Thanks for that link, Supermeerkat.
It scared the hell out of me to see the remnants of that explosion in the sky from here in New Zealand when I knew the explosion was somewhere up near Hawaii. I went back inside and just stood inside the front door and must have looked shaken because Mum asked if I was okay. For some reason I was too terrified to tell Mum, Dad and my sister to step outside to see what I saw.
Manawatu Evening Standard, 10 July 1962, page 7
All New Zealand sees US H-bomb glow
Blast 1400 miles up, says DSIR
The glow from the exploding H-bomb fired by the Americans high over the Pacific last night was seen throughout New Zealand. Reports from Honolulu say the altitude of the explosion was 200 miles, but scientists at the DSIR auroral station at Lauder, in Central Otago, put the height at 1400 miles.
A Tokomaru resident said today that there was a bright red glow in the north from 9pm to 9:15pm last night. The glow trailed across the sky southwards. Directly above him, there was a clear gap in the glow, from which rays were fanning. After a quarter of an hour the glow faded and disappeared.
The leading New Zealand nuclear scientist, Sir Ernest Marsden, said in Wellington that it was quite possible the glow from the explosion could be seen in this country, a Press Association message states.
No serious disruption of internal radio communications was felt, though electrical railway signalling devices in the Wairarapa and Manawatu were disrupted for a period shortly after 9 o'clock.
Press Association messages from various centres report as follows:—
DUNEDIN.—The brilliant artificial aurora sent instruments right off the scale at the DSIR auroral station in Lauder, Central Otago. Scientists at the station listened to the test’s countdown. The rocket lifted off at 8:48pm New Zealand time, and immediately after the explosion¾at 9-1/2 seconds after 9pm¾needles and dials went crazy. The strength of the explosion far exceeded their expectations.
Dr M Gadsden, a scientist at the station and a world authority on the aurora, said he had been expecting a “slight twitch” on the delicate recording devices.
Scientists at the auroral station said they thought the big nuclear explosion took place at a height of more than 1400 miles, seven times higher than announced. Dr Gadsden said this was only a preliminary calculation on the data available. He said the time from take-off to explosion would tie in with the flight of the rocket to an altitude of about 1400 to 1500 miles and would account for the South Island sightings of the aurora.
The superintendent of the Seismological Observatory (Dr F F Evison) said in Wellington that he thought it unlikely that New Zealand would be affected by earthquakes resulting from the explosion.
Significant Change
Working with tape-recordings, Dominion Physical Laboratory scientists at Lower Hutt learned that the explosion had caused a significant disturbance to the magnetic field of the earth. The phenomenon was, late last night, believed to be as big as any previously recorded. Similar recordings were being made by scientists in Central Otago. The data gained have yet to be analysed.
WELLINGTON.—The first report of the glow in the Wellington area was made by a Porirua resident, and this was followed shortly after by that of a Naenae sighting. Locomotive drivers in areas north of Wellington and National Airways Corporation pilots in the vicinity of Cook Strait and Nelson apparently saw the glow about 9pm also.
The director of the geophysical division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (Mr E I Robertson) said the glow could have been caused by radio-active particles from the nuclear blast travelling along the earth's magnetic field.
A civil aviation radio technician at Wellington Airport, who had been receiving transmissions of the countdown before the nuclear detonation, said that as soon as the countdown was completed communication with the American-manned station failed.
KAITAIA.—A vivid pink cloud rose in the north-east sky and stayed in view about three or four minutes before apparently rolling over towards the south-east. White rays became visible toward the end of that time. It had an influence on radios.
AUCKLAND.—Shortly after 9 o'clock a newspaper office was flooded with telephone calls from people anxious to know the cause of the aurora. Many of the callers were perturbed and anxious. Some were frankly scared and panicky, and one woman sounded close to hysteria.
The aurora was one of the most brilliant ever seen in Auckland. Watchers saw it start as an intense glow above the northern horizon which spread rapidly across the clear, starlight sky to the southern horizon.
HAMILTON.—Telephone calls from Morrinsville, Cambridge, Ngaruawahia and hundreds from Hamilton jammed the switchboards of the Hamilton newspaper to give news of the sighting of a strange phenomenon in the northern sky.
Blood-red Flash
Mr A Rowe, of Ngaruawahia, who was outside at the time, said the sky lit up with a blood-red flash. There were white streaks through it and as it faded it gave the appearance of. an aurora “but it was definitely no aurora for a start."
TAUPO.—A Taupo resident motoring towards Lake Taupo from the south reported that the flash was seen over the lake and appeared to link with a column of white mist. The motorist, Mr G Byers, a former resident of Wellington, and his wife saw the flash immediately after 9 o’clock. It appeared to come from the north-east and reached the zenith. Its peak appeared to be right over Lake Taupo. “It was a most impressive sight,” Mr Byers said. “It looked just like a palm.”
NEW PLYMOUTH.—The northern sky in Taranaki and the King Country was brilliantly illuminated. The glow was a brilliant red in colour with white streaks running through it.
Pink Mountain
“Mount Egmont was pink. It was terrific.” Mr H Van Stigt, who saw the glow from the North Egmont Hostel, said. At the Dawson Falls Tourist Lodge on the southern side of the mountain a television set at the lodge “went completely haywire,” the proprietor, Mr A F Horne, said.
WANGANUI.—At Wanganui a broad band of brilliant red spread right across the sky from north to south. This was interspersed with rays of white light, some appearing like jet aircraft contrails, moving from north to south. The effect persisted for half an hour.
LEVIN.—A huge ribbon of crimson edged with white slashed a fiery trail across the blackened sky tonight in one of the most brilliant displays seen in Levin for many years. The display was clearly reflected in the snow-clad tops of the Tararua Ranges and made a brilliant spectacle which attracted scores of people out of doors into the cold night.
NELSON.—A brilliant and extensive red glow was seen for a few minutes in Nelson’s eastern sky with shafts of light reaching to the zenith and extending into the southern heavens. It was redder than the fiery red of the sunrise and extended over a broad belt of the sky. The colour seemed to be much more vivid than usually occurs with displays of the Aurora Australis in Nelson.
GREYMOUTH.—Reports of sightings of the flash have come from as far south as Whataroa where a local police constable sighted it at 9:03pm and from Fox Glacier where it was observed at the same time. It was also sighted on most other parts of the West Coast.
TIMARU.—A deep red glow was observed in the north-eastern sky by two Timaru motorists travelling north along the main highway between Pareora and Timaru. The light appeared to radiate from a point below the horizon.
CHRISTCHURCH.—The artificial display of air glow was observed visually and with an air-glow photometer of the latest type at the field station of the Canterbury University physics department, 15 miles from Christchurch.
White shafts of light pointing in a northerly direction appeared overhead, but within about 30 seconds the display changed to a red glow, brightest overhead and extending to the north-east, Mr S Neff, lecturer in physics, who was making observations, said. Instruments recorded a thousand-fold increase in intensity over the normal night level of red air glow. Air glow is normally invisible to the naked eye. By 9:20 the red was still 10 times above normal.
Dr C D Ellyett, head of the physics department, said, “The extent of these effects of the explosion appear to be far greater than expected. We had not expected to see any effects.”
A bright aurora was seen in the northern sky at various points throughout Canterbury. It was variously described as "a deep red glow,” “a high red cloud,” “large path of red light,” and “an ominous light like a bushfire.”
INVERCARGILL.—Cloudy skies in the city last night prevented Invercargill people from seeing the brilliant auroral display seen in other parts of the country. At Oturehua, Central Otago, and Mt. Albert, near Lake Wanaka, eye-witnesses reported a blood-red sky with shafts of white silhouetting clouds and mountain ranges.
RAROTONGA.—The test was clearly seen in Rarotonga.