Photo courtesy of Sydney Bauer A photo taken by Sydney Bauer showed the view of the northern lights from about 15 miles west of Marshall.

The northern lights put on a surprising show in the sky over southwest Minnesota Tuesday night.

Area residents said they weren’t expecting to see auroras in bright reds and greens.

“It’s an experience you can’t really put into words,” said Cottonwood resident Phil Lalim.

Lalim said he had taken his dog outside Tuesday night, when he noticed the colorful display.

“I was just in awe,” said Sydney Bauer.

Bauer lives west of Marshall, and she said she happened to be outside when she saw green light over the treetops. Further out in the open, the aurora was even more visible.

“It was so bright and colorful, and it was even brighter when I took out my phone to take a picture,” she said.

People across the U.S. reported seeing the aurora borealis Tuesday night. The Associated Press reported that solar storms, with bursts of energy from the sun, caused colorful auroras to appear as far south as Kansas, Colorado and Texas.

On Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, said said auroras would also likely be seen across the upper Midwest on Wednesday night. Auroras would potentially be seen as far south as Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, the forecast said.

NOAA said a geomagnetic storm watch would likely continue today.

The colors of the aurora took area residents by surprise Tuesday night.

“It was absolutely just amazing to see,” said Braxton Seifert. Seifert said he first saw the lights from his home north of Marshall. “I was outside setting up Christmas lights, and then I went to the end of the driveway and I saw it.”

Seifert said he had seen some of the aurora activity reported in southwest Minnesota last year, but the lights were more blue and green then. This time, he said, there were areas of red and yellow.

“I had never seen it before with the red,” he said.

The aurora colors appeared more intense through a phone camera, but even with the naked eye, “You could definitely tell there was a section of red,” Seifert said.

“The red you could definitely see,” Lalim said. Otherwise, the green colors in the aurora kind of looked like a whitish haze, he said.

Later that evening, Lalim headed over to do some work at Lakeview School, where he teaches. On the way, he said, “I thought it would be really cool to have a picture of the lights over the school.” Lalim shared his photo on the Lakeview Schools Facebook page.

Lalim said taking a photo using a long exposure captured more of the aurora colors, and even starlight.

“With a tripod, you can activate that longer exposure,” he said.

Bauer said she didn’t know that the northern lights would be visible Tuesday night.

“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” she said.

Bauer said she had always thought the aurora borealis was something she would have to travel farther north to see.

“It think it was really cool that I got to see it in Minnesota,” she said.

“It was an experience like no other,” Lalim said.