Northern Lights seen in Lowcountry sky

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Did you catch the Northern Lights on Thursday night?

It was a rare treat for people across the Lowcountry as a severe solar storm brought the northern lights to portions of the U.S.

Hundreds of people shared their photos with News 2 on Facebook. Storm Team 2 Meteorologist Jed Christoph captured a timelapse (seen above) of the lights near the Francis Marion National Forest.

This is the second time the Northern Lights were seen in the South Carolina sky this year. The last happened in May. It is very unusual for the lights, also known as a geomagnetic storm or the aurora borealis, to be visible this far south.

Earth was hit by a strong solar radiation storm event Wednesday that was followed by the geomagnetic storm, space weather officials said.