Credit: Chirag Upreti
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued a continued alert for the possibility of a geomagnetic storm of either G3 class (strong) or G4 class (severe). This alert goes through Friday, November 14. As I write this, observers are noting G3 conditions, but the possibility is high that they could see G4 or stronger activity.
Go out and look
If you live away from city lights, head outside after evening twilight ends (about 45 minutes past sunset) and look toward the north. Give your eyes just a few minutes to adapt to the darkness. Do you see any colored or moving lights in the sky? Keep these two things in mind: 1) The farther south you live, the lower the lights (if any) will appear; and 2) Because you’ll be looking at the highest region of the aurora, the color will be predominantly red.
Last night (November 11), displays of the northern lights were seen as far south as Mexico. Could that happen again? Yes, but it’s more likely that people in the northern tier of states (imagine a line through Washington, Nebraska, and New York) will see them.
But you won’t see anything if you don’t look. So, take a few minutes each hour and peek at the northern sky. You never know. Good luck!
