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I went on an "aurora chase" Tuesday evening, November 11. My departure was delayed a bit due to a kid pickup for sports. I was already seeing social media posts reporting mid-latitude aurora as I blasted west from Richmond. I was worried the geomagnetic storm would subside. More concerning, was forecast for increasing clouds. I decided to pick a closer viewing point near Oilville, VA (Goochland County) and I arrived at 8:31 PM. I stepped out of the car with my cell phone for a quick photo to see if the aurora was visible. No need for the phone. The aurora was easily visible to the north as a large dull red blob. I starting taking photos. The red would shift, and at times, blobs of green would appear and vanish. All easily seen with my eyes. Unfortunately, clouds were rapidly moving into the area. I shifted positions for a different foreground, but the aurora was mostly obscured by 9:10 PM. The geomagnetic storm persisted for hours into the night. There was a brief opportunity in some parts of Virginia just before dawn, but I had already went to bed for the night. Despite the clouds moving in, I was able to observe and photograph aurora in Virginia. Other people photographed aurora with this storm in Mexico and Florida.
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Aurora Chase 2.0. Although not as strong as the previous evening, this geomagnetic storm was still producing naked-eye visible aurora. This time, the sky remained clear. I observed two substorms in Louisa County, VA. One approximately 9:40 PM and the later one about 11:07 PM. The red was easily visible along with shifting translucent columns.
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