An Aurora Before the Storm . ... Credit Copyright: Jan Curtis ( U. Alaska ), ACRC . Explanation: Early April brought some of the most intense auroral storms this decade. ... Auroral activity occurs high in the Earth's atmosphere and is a direct result of storms on our Sun . As huge sheets of charged particles stream out from the Sun, a small fraction of these particles are funneled in by Earth's magnetic field and strike atoms high in the atmosphere, causing the sky to glow. ...