Photo of the northern lights over the school on January 20, 2026, by Jacob Slagel ’26.
A faint glow of the northern lights showed up over Lake Placid recently, giving Northwood students and faculty a rare chance to see the aurora without leaving campus. The lights weren’t super clear for everyone, but enough people noticed and stepped outside, looked from dorm windows, or tried taking a few quick photos.
Max Mortimer ’29 said he mostly saw the lights from the field and from his window. He said it was not a full, bright display, but it was still different from anything he had seen before. “I’ve never really seen anything like that, because, like in the city, that stuff doesn’t really happen,” Mortimer said. He added that if it happens again, people should make the effort to go outside and see it. “If it’s happening, you should probably try to see it,” he said. Mortimer also suggested taking pictures and dressing for the cold, since it was easy to forget the temperature once people started looking up.
Soccer coach Mr. Jose Coss said seeing the northern lights is always exciting, even when conditions are not perfect. He said he saw the northern lights last year as well and thought they were clearer then. Coss explained that light pollution can make the aurora harder to see with your eyes, which is why some people can only pick it up through a phone camera. Still, he said it is worth stepping outside. “It’s a natural phenomenon that you don’t get to see often, and can’t see everywhere in the world,” Coss said.
Coss said he found out about the lights while he was in the fitness center, when someone told him to go outside. He said the sky was also a little cloudy that night, which made viewing harder. Even so, the aurora gave people a reason to stop what they were doing and look up for a few minutes.
