There’s a chance you will be able to see the aurora borealis, commonly called the northern lights, on Friday and Saturday nights due to a geomagnetic storm.
The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch. This is the first G4 Watch issued by SWPC since 2005.
According to the SWPC, at least five earth-directional coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were observed and expected to arrive by midday Friday and persist through Sunday. Several strong flares have been observed over the past few days and were associated with a large, complex sunspot cluster that is 16 times the diameter of the Earth.
A CME is an eruption of solar material. When they arrive at earth, a geomagnetic storm is possible. A G4 Watch level is rare (the highest is G5).
According to the SWPC, the aurora may be visible as far south as Alabama.
For a better chance at viewing the aurora, SWPC says darkness is key. They recommend to go out at night and get away from city lights. The full moon will also diminish the apparent brightness of the aurora (not the actual brightness). The SWPC says the best aurora is usually between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time.
For the lastest prediction of the aurora’s visibility, click here. For more about what causes the aurora, click here.
Stay up to date on the space weather conditions and find out more about the storm on the SWPC website.
