Last night as Tom Pahl and I walked down Lawton Lane to pick up my bike Tom noticed a red glow in the northern sky. It was a deep barn-red hue that spread wide above the trees. Intrigued, we abandoned our bikes and took Tom's truck to a dark spot on the sound.
By the time we arrived at the shoreline red had given way to pale blue. Two wide horizontal bands traversed the sky above the horizon. As we watched over the next half hour the colors compressed and then spread out again. Red reappeared along with more blue. Colors radiated upward in feathered bands.
The sky above our heads was crystal clear so thousands of stars and the Milky Way stood out prominently. The pole star was brightly shining directly above the colorful display. No doubt this was the Northern Lights. More commonly seen in northern latitudes, the Aurora Borealis is occasionally visible at Ocracoke. It was a thrill to experience this rare celestial display last night.