Red glow in the northeast that lit up people, China, 9 February 1261

Yuanshi, Zhongtong reign year 2, month 1, day xin-wei: 'At night, in the northeast a red vapour shone on people. It was as large as a mat.' Catalogued by Hayakawa et al. 2017 (three records of the same night) and by Yau, Stephenson and Willis 1995 as entry 287, where it is misdated to 1262. We checked the day name: xin-wei falls on 9 February 1261 in the Julian calendar and not on 9 February 1262, so 1261 is right. A red glow bright enough to light people is the strong kind of aurora candidate, not the weak white kind.