"Fake" Northern Lights

Northeastern Pennsylvania is not the best location to view Northern Lights or Auroras.  Auroras don't often come this far south and on the rare nights that they do, the weather usually doesn't cooperate.  Northeastern Pennsylvania has become one of the major locations in the world for natural gas drilling.  The Marcellus shale has been proclaimed to be the second largest onshore natural gas reserve in the world and has been a booming industry here in northern Pennsylvania.   One of the little known effects of the many well drilling rigs that have popped up all over our once quiet rural area is light pillars.  This is caused by the many strong lights that illuminate the drilling rigs.  Add in some very cold weather with a sprinkling of ice crystals in the air or even some light snow flurries and the light show can be impressive.  Some may mistake the lights for auroras but they are in fact called light pillars.  The pictures to the right were taken around midnight on Jan 23, 2014.  It was cold, around zero degrees with a few light clouds. 

One of the little perks of surviving winter.