Northern Lights likely to be visible across northern US Thursday night
Northern lights spotted across the U.S.
The northern lights dazzled skies across the U.S. Tuesday night, caused by a geomagnetic storm that reached G4 intensity. According to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, there will be another chance to see similar aurora conditions Wednesday night as far south as Alabama and Northern California. LiveNOW from FOX's Carel Lajara spoke with FOX Weather's Craig Herrera about the spectacle.
The Northern Lights are expected to be visible across the northern U.S. on Thursday and possibly early Friday after a strong geomagnetic storm watch was issued.
The sun has produced three different solar flares in recent days, creating a coronal mass ejection (CME) directed at Earth.
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CMEs will launch a stream of solar particles into space along the solar wind. If the stream is directed at the Earth, those charged particles will interact with our magnetic field, transferring energy into our upper atmosphere and causing variations in our magnetic field.
Aurora borealis explainer (FOX Weather)
The charged particles of a CME create the beautiful dancing lights known as the aurora borealis, or the Northern Lights.
These lights are typically only seen near the North Pole, but during more intense solar storms, they can be seen as far south as the southern U.S.
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Most of Earth's modern power grids are more than capable of handling a large solar flare or coronal mass ejection but, what if a particularly strong space weather event took place?
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The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center issued a G3 or "strong" geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday and Friday, with the highest possibility of seeing auroras in the U.S. potentially as far south as Seattle, Chicago and Boston.
Geomagnetic storms can affect power grids, satellite operations and be a danger for astronauts in space.
The exact timing and intensity of the CME is still uncertain, and their arrivals could overlap, according to the FOX Forecast Center.
Potential aurora viewing areas(FOX Weather)
The FOX Forecast Center said the possible area for auroras overlaps with the same regions expected to see severe storms the next few days.
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For the best chances of seeing the Northern Lights, travel away from city lights into an open area when searching for them.