JEFFERSON COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – If the skies weren’t blocked in by clouds, you were in for a show overnight last night.

Amidst the strongest solar storm since October 2003, the Aurora Borealis, or northern lights, were in rare form, visible throughout the entire sky in some parts of Pennsylvania.

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They were even visible on the horizon as far away south as Miami and parts of the Caribbean and Yucatan peninsula, according to Aurorasaurus, a website dedicated to tracking aurora sightings internationally.

Much of eastern Pennsylvania and the Midstate were blanketed with cloud cover. From the Pennsylvania Wilds west through Ohio, though, clear skies prevailed, as did a spectacular light show visible to the naked eye.

Photos captured along a country road in Washington Township, Jefferson County — west of DuBois — highlighted the light show visible in all directions, a show typically reserved for places like Fairbanks and Yellowknife.

When the northern lights are visible in Pennsylvania, they are typically difficult to see without the aid of a camera and are only seen on the northern horizon.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center said the ongoing storm reached a G5 rating, the highest rating possible.

That hadn’t happened since October 2003, and followed a G4 geomagnetic storm watch issued Thursday. The warning level is “very rare,” the SWPC said.

The SWPC says the solar storm is expected to persist through Sunday, so if the clouds cooperate, there could be an encore in the coming nights.

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