The Northern Lights could put on an unusually strong showing overnight on Monday, Dec. 8, through Tuesday, Dec. 9, after a “full halo event” was forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
Triggered by a coronal mass ejection — a cloud of charged particles ejected by the sun — NOAA says that U.S. states down to the “lower Midwest to Oregon” could see aurora during a strong G3 geomagnetic storm, most likely in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, Dec. 9. Here’s how to photograph the Northern Lights with a smartphone.
Why The Northern Lights Are Suddenly Active Again
The sun rotates roughly every 27 days. On Nov. 11, the aurora was seen dancing across the night sky across the U.S. after solar flares and CMEs on the Earth-facing disk of the sun. The Northern Lights were even reported as far south as Florida. An entire rotation later, that same active region on the sun is again facing Earth — meaning that whatever solar flares and CMEs produced are likely to mean a high chance of aurora during mid-December this year.
This week’s display has its roots in an M8-class solar flare on Dec. 6, which unleashed a CME that is now heading straight for Earth.
An X1.1 class solar flare exploded on the sun on Dec. 8, making Dec. 10-11 a date to circle in the diary as a potentially even stronger geomagnetic storm.
Where And When To See The Northern Lights
NOAA’s forecast has a G3 geomagnetic storm estimated to develop between 6:00-9:00 UTC (1:00-4:00 a.m. EST) on Tuesday, Dec. 9. The Kp levels could reach 6.67, enough to thoeretically make aurora visble from 22 U.S. states — Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Planning A Northern Lights Trip
If you’re chasing the Northern Lights in the U.S., you need to avoid two things: clouds and urban glow. You can escape the latter by heading about 40 miles from urban areas to somewhere that looks dark on a light pollution map, or simply find a park using the Dark Sky Place Finder. What’s key is a dark northern horizon — a dark place south of a big city is a poor choice. Check weather forecasts before you head out., as well as NOAA’s 30-minute aurora forecast and apps including Aurora Now, My Aurora Forecast or Glendale Aurora for up-to-the-minute alerts and live solar wind data.
Traveling To See The Northern Lights
If you are set on seeing aurora, however, the best tactic is to plan a trip to somewhere near the Arctic Circle, above which the auroral oval sits. In this region, auroras are nightly (though clear skies are not!), giving you a much better chance. The best places to see the aurora include Alaska, northern Canada, northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. In these latitudes, auroras are visible several nights per week from September through March, with those two months giving you the best chances.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
