A magnetic storm this weekend promised a good chance of an Aurora Borealis sighting. On Friday and Saturday the forecast was fairly steady but quite low, and being relatively far south in Vancouver, BC, the chances of a good show seemed unlikely.

Last night, the forecast showed the possibility of some spikes of activity in the early hours of the morning, so I figured what better way to break in the 5D Mark III Mark II! As I’ve not yet got a shot I’m totally happy with from this location, I again headed to Porteau Cove Provincial Park, about 30 minutes drive north of Vancouver.

For most of the evening, the Aurora was steady and visible, but very low on the horizon, not making for the best photography opportunity. However, there were two occasions where we saw a significant spike in activity, which caused the sky to light up! The peak of activity in both cases lasted for only about 60 seconds, and had died back down to low level activity after 5 minutes.

This capture shows the second of the two peaks in aurora activity. This is a 5-shot panorama at 24mm, as my 16–35mm lens is still away with the Canon medics.