Lighting up the night sky with pink, green and gray colors, the the northern lights appeared in the United Kingdom and the northern half of the United States on Friday. Magical phenomena may happen again tonight.
The show mesmerized many viewers as they took out their phones to capture the beauty of the night sky. On Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued extreme conditions (G5) across the United States. A storm of this intensity had not been seen since October 2003. The storm was called the “Halloween Storm” and caused many power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa, according to Earth.com.
Forecasters have predicted that the northern lights may be visible on both Saturday and Sunday. If you’re heading out to see the Northern Lights, meteorologists want to remind the public that your solar eclipse glasses can be used to observe the phenomenon.
Here’s what you need to know to prepare for your next Northern Lights viewing.
The Northern Lights: I danced across the USA last night. This could happen again on Saturday.
What is the forecast for clouds on Saturday night? Will clouds block the Northern Lights?
If you missed the Northern Lights on Friday night, you might still catch a glimpse of them on Saturday or Sunday, depending on where you live. But not if the clouds get in the way.
The cloud forecast for Saturday night is generally good for most of America, but some of the people who missed out last night due to clouds may have a similar problem on Saturday, said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tom Kines . Areas likely to be cloudy include the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions, as well as parts of the Southern Plains, including Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.
“Even just a few breaks in the clouds will allow the aurora to be visible,” Kines said. “There is always hope.”
Peak visibility hours Saturday night will be between 9 p.m. and midnight, with some chance until 2 a.m., Kines said. The best views will be in dark areas, away from the light pollution of cities, he said, although some reported seeing the auroras Friday night in metropolitan areas such as Milwaukee and Detroit.
Sunday night, if there are any auroras to see, those in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic can rejoice, because Kines said the sky should be brighter.
Where can you see the Northern Lights tonight?
The Space and Weather Prediction Center offers an experimental prediction map this shows that the aurora can be visible over a wide area of the US, including Oregon, Nebraska, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Other states like California, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida also saw the sky light up again for an encore. But visibility will depend on changing factors that include weather, pollution and cloud cover.
Below are predictions for seeing the Northern Lights in New York, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio on Saturday.
new York
Rain and clouds are expected to dampen expectations of seeing the Northern Lights around the Rochester, NY area. Elsewhere in NY, the Lower Hudson Valley could see the lights again, weather permitting.
Michigan
NWS maps predicting northern lights intensity and location Saturday and Sunday show the aurora will be visible in central and northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.
The forecast is that Saturday and Sunday will be predominantly cloudy, with some isolated showers and thunderstorms. The NWS predicted 48% to 58% sky coverage over metro Detroit from 8pm Saturday to 2am Sunday. The western portion of both peninsulas is expected to have lower cloud cover.
Wisconsin
In the Milwaukee areaThe evening is expected to bring mostly clear skies and overnight there will be scattered clouds, said Tim Halbach, local meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Ohio
Those who live around the Cincinnati region could be treated to the northern lights on Saturday night with the NWS Wilmington, Ohio, office predicts dry and partly cloudy conditions. Clouds shouldn’t be a problem for many Ohioans reported seeing the lights on Friday despite some cloud cover.
Northern Lights Prediction Path
If you want to get a better idea of whether you’ll be able to see the Northern Lights in your state, check out NOAA’s aurora forecast toolwhich has a 30-minute prediction window.
Auroras are a natural light display in Earth’s sky that is notoriously best seen in high latitude regions.
Scientist left amazed by the aurora
The aurora seen on May 10 surprised Antonella Fruscione, an astrophysicist at Harvard University. She sent photos of the lights and the April eclipse to her friends in Italy. The Northern Lights were not as prominent in Italy as elsewhere.
“And I sent them the photo I took of the solar eclipse and said, ‘You can imagine how lucky I was this year, a month apart, I saw these two incredible spectacles of the universe,’” she remembers telling them .
The phenomena seen Friday and possibly Saturday night are unusual, she said.
“It’s a very rare occurrence, especially since last night it was actually visible,” Fruscione said.
This is because Earth’s magnetic activity was at nine, the highest level on the index, along with the Sun being at an active peak, causing eruptions. She added that the colors also cannot be predicted as they depend on how energetic solar particles interact with oxygen and nitrogen atoms. Oxygen appears green, while nitrogen appears purple, blue or pink, she said.
“It just depends on which atoms in the atmosphere this particle interacts with,” Fruscione said.
She declined to predict how strong Saturday’s aurora could be, as it is not her specialty, but said people make predictions all the time about space weather, not just for the aurora borealis, but for communications, space stations. , astronauts and other subjects in space. don’t be too disturbed.
On Earth, however, the activity is harmless to humans.
“It’s completely harmless because the particles don’t reach us,” Fruscione said. “The reason we see colors is that the particle interacts with the atoms and they form these beautiful colors and that’s it.”
On Saturday, and any other day when talk about the Northern Lights is high, Fruscione encouraged people to download an aurora forecast app on their phones so they can see the colorful sky.
What are the northern lights?
The aurora borealis materializes when energized particles from the Sun reach Earth’s upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 72 million kilometers per hour, according to Space.com. Earth’s magnetic field redirects particles toward the poles through a process that produces a stunning display of lightning, spirals and oscillations that has fascinated humans for millennia.
Contributing: Eric Lagatta It is Dinah Voyles PulverUSA TODAY; Tanya Wildt, Detroit Free Press; Alex Groth, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Contributing: Bebe Hodges, Cincinnati Enquirer; Contributing: Steve Howe, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle; Rockland News/Westchester Journal
Ahjané Forbes is a reporter for USA TODAY’s National Trending Team. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at aforbes@gannett.com. follow her Instagram, Topics It is X (Twitter)
This article originally appeared in USA TODAY: Aurora Borealis tonight: forecast to see the sky light up on Saturday
