Thunderstorms and Auroræ

Abstract

I WOULD like to ask if any observer has ever suggested a possible connection between thunderstorms and the aurora? Last evening a very heavy shower, accompanied by much lightning, passed to the north of this place. Other black clouds were seen to the south and west, and at nine o'clock flashes of lightning might be seen darting across the clouds in nearly all directions. It was evident that the air was heavily charged with electricity. Just before retiring, about midnight, I looked from my window to see if a shower was still threatened at this point. I found the heavens quite clear except in the north, where a dark mass of clouds still hung. At the eastern extremity of this cloud-bank a rift several degrees wide commenced and extended nearly to the north–western horizon. Frequent flashes of lightning lit up the edges of this rift, while beyond the clouds the clear sky was seen to be brightly illumined by a steady auroral glow. The glow continued nearly unchanged during the several minutes which I watched it, and it was quite evident that it was a genuine aurora, and not a reflection of the lightning flashes. Is it not probable that the same electrical state of the atmosphere which produces the thunderstorms may also cause the aurora, and that the two phenomena may often occur together?