Due to a powerful solar wind hitting the Earth’s magnetic field, a geomagnetic storm reached “severe” intensity on Sunday night (June 1st). Now, residents in most parts of the United States have the chance to witness the spectacular Northern Lights.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States has announced that this geomagnetic storm reached “severe” intensity earlier on Sunday, enough to push the stunning Northern Lights further south than usual.
The auroras will illuminate the skies from Michigan and Washington state to Northern California and even Alabama. Typically, one would have to travel to Iceland or Greenland to see the Northern Lights.
Experts state that the intensity of this particular storm is classified as G4, just one level below the most extreme category.
According to the New York Post, Shawn Dahl, coordinator of the Space Weather Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said, “As long as the sky is clear, nighttime will be a great opportunity to admire the beautiful Northern Lights.”
Dahl also mentioned that the forecast indicates the best time to view the Northern Lights is between 10pm and 2am.
Based on meteorological information, areas in the U.S. such as the Pacific Northwest, Northern California, the Midwest, as well as parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley, will be prime viewing spots as long as there are clear skies at night.
However, New York City experienced mostly cloudy weather on Sunday night, so stargazers there couldn’t see much of the Northern Lights.
The auroras are caused by material ejected from the sun (known as a “coronal mass ejection”) colliding with the Earth’s magnetic field. From a scientific perspective, the auroras are a type of discharge phenomenon. Plasma from the solar wind enters Earth’s atmosphere and releases energy upon collision with molecules and atoms, leading to a luminous display.
Typically, auroras are visible in high latitude regions above 60 degrees. The aurora zone is concentrated in areas 10° to 20° away from the Earth’s magnetic poles. For example, the Northern Hemisphere regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and northern Russia have records of auroral occurrences.
During geomagnetic storms, the aurora zone extends to lower latitudes, and the auroras themselves become brighter and move more rapidly.
However, since the brightness of auroras is less than sunlight, they can only be observed in pitch-black darkness. Northern Lights can appear in the summer as well, but are not visible to the naked eye.
In major U.S. cities, the best chance to see the Northern Lights is to drive outside the city to places with minimal light pollution, look north, and you may catch a glimpse of the dazzling Northern Lights.