Auroral conditions close to the equator? Strange?

Hi All
In well over 30 years I have never come across what I witnessed this morning on 432 MHz off the Moon.

During moon rise my echos were T9 solid (<20dB and equal in polarity) although I had about 6dB of Sun noise from the first side lobe of the dish. I though the ground noise was a 'elevated' a tad more than usual! That was my first quandary along with why we had a pea soup fog in the middle of summer!

When Al K2UYH called me on SSB at 2150z his signal sounded very distorted and I struggled to get the report and square, but we got there. Then it went totally unreadable and I mentioned to Al at the time that it sounded almost auroral. I was not wrong . When I went back to CW my echos they were totally auroral. I have never heard that before.
 

It started at about 2150z or when I became fully aware after checking my own outgoing transmission, thinking at the time, it may have been my rubidium standard.
It ended abruptly at 2235z although a little earlier I was getting the occasional T6 echo. That corresponded to an antennae heading 92-83 degrees azimuth and an elevation rising from 9-21 degrees.

At this latitude and that heading I have never heard anything like it before off the Moon. I checked 23cm several times during the event and signals were perfectly normal (T9) It probably is common for those in the Northern Hemisphere, but for me it came as quite a surprise.

SSB EME is hard enough on 432 MHz without picking a weekend  when my side lobe sees the Sun and then adding Aurora to the equation .. but we made it but before the Contest had began! That really is Murphy in action!  I will be there for my moon set  today and tomorrow both rise and set on 23cm

73, Doug
www.vk3um.com