There was a solar storm in 2024 that caused the aurora borealis to be visible much farther south than normal. As a result, I got to see them in person. There was too much light pollution where I lived at the time, but once I heard that they were visible, I drove about 30 minutes out of town to the middle of nowhere and watched the light show.

The pictures don't do it justice, but it was beautiful. I'm not sure about the process behind it, but because I was much farther south, the blue-green tones that the lights normally appear as had shifted to reds and purples.

I would still like to see the normal lights one day, but I think this counts as being able to check it off my list.