{"id":92205,"date":"2026-01-21T02:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T02:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/92205\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T02:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T02:40:11","slug":"the-northern-lights-were-visible-in-the-pittsburgh-area-tonight-heres-a-look-at-the-spectacular-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/92205\/","title":{"rendered":"The northern lights were visible in the Pittsburgh area tonight. Here’s a look at the spectacular photos."},"content":{"rendered":"

The northern lights<\/a> were on display in the Pittsburgh area on Tuesday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The aurora borealis<\/a> \u2014 the phenomenon more commonly known as the northern lights \u2014 was spotted all across southwestern Pennsylvania, including in Butler, Indiana, Westmoreland and Washington counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a “severe” geomagnetic storm alert<\/a> for Tuesday. These G4 storms<\/a> can produce the northern lights, but can also interrupt radio, TV, satellite and cell phone communications.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The northern lights were visible<\/a>\u00a0in about two dozen states<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday, one day after many southern states caught a glimpse of the light show on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at pictures from the Pittsburgh area on Tuesday that show the vivid hues of purple, pink, green and blue in the sky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"snapshot-2026-01-20t202924-577.jpg<\/p>\n

The Northern Lights were visible in Indiana County on Jan. 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Photo Credit: Jody Lynn)<\/p>\n

\"snapshot-2026-01-20t204322-480.jpg<\/p>\n

The Northern Lights were visible in the Pittsburgh area on Jan. 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Photo Credit: Nicholas Molitor)<\/p>\n

\"snapshot-2026-01-20t204505-464.jpg<\/p>\n

The Northern Lights were visible in the Pittsburgh area on Jan. 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Photo Credit: Chris Moorman)<\/p>\n

What causes the colorful northern lights?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eruptions from the sun, known as coronal mass ejections, occur, and these eruptions interact with Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic fields, resulting in a colorful display of the northern lights. \u00a0<\/p>\n

How to see the northern lights<\/p>\n

If you missed the northern lights on Tuesday, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to see the light show again this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When that time comes, you will want to find a dark place with a good view of the northern sky. The lights show up best in pictures, so use\u00a0“night mode” on your phone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also search for a forecast from NOAA<\/a>. It shows a 30-minute window of the location and intensity of the aurora. <\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The northern lights were on display in the Pittsburgh area on Tuesday night.\u00a0 The aurora borealis \u2014 the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17609,17615,28,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-92205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-aurora-borealis","tag-northern-lights","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}