The Northern Lights is already going strong this evening but it’s still daylight. The 1st of 7 coronal mass ejections have reached Earth resulting in severe to extreme geomagnetic storms. A coronal mass ejection is an expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s corona The mass ejections disrupt the Earth’s magnetic field and the charged particles from the sun react with the Earth’s atmosphere. The result is the Northern Lights.
Being able to see the Northern Lights with the naked eye is a lot easier during events like tonight. I do expect most of you will be able to see them early tonight around and after sunset. It should be an incredible sight. The problem is an approaching storm system with clouds and rain showers.
How to view them? Go to a very dark area away from cities and towns. Give your eyes a good 5 minutes to get used to the darkness. Look towards the North or just up above you (depending on your location and storm strength at the time) You should be able to see at least white or green streaks across the sky. If it’s very active you will see a lot more color!
I think most of the region will have a decent viewing of them until 11 pm or even midnight but then the clouds take over. Here is the forecast for this evening from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
Here is my overall viewing for tonight. If you know friends or family in other areas where clouds won’t be an issue, it might be good to let them know they will be visible.
The good news is there will be so much activity tonight and tomorrow, the forecast is for them to continue Saturday night. They may not be as strong, but strong enough much of the region should be able to view them.
Only time will tell.
- Tom