If you have see the Northern Lights on your bucket
list,
you may be in luck tonight.
A powerful geomagnetic storm could trigger an extraordinary view of
the Aurora borealis across the United States.
And the stunning show could stretch further farther S than
usual.
Meteorologist Derek Van Damme is tracking this one for us.
So how far South? Who's going to get to see
it?
When are we going to get to see it?
What are the details? All right,
I'm looking at you. Northern Alabama,
Northern California, Potentially tonight, the maximum of potential would be
between 2:00 AM and 5:00 AM.
So wake up early, set those alarms.
But heads up and the sun has been hurtling these
solar flares as it reaches its solar maximum this 11
year solar cycle.
Here it is over the past couple of days,
right towards the Earth. And by the way,
this is a future projection of those solar flares you
saw just a moment ago.
And check it out, where is it headed?
That's Earth right there. And of course that is going
to bring us the potential for Northern Lights.
That's the positive, but it's also going to bring some
negative impacts as well.
This is the first G4 geomagnetic watch.
Issued by the Space Prediction Center from NOAA since 2005
and you can see the greatest probability of viewing across
the Midwest.
And into the Northern Plains,
stretching as far South as Alabama.
But it has negative impacts as well,
potentially on power and communication.
So that's something we're going to monitor.
Here's a look at that cloud cover,
Kate. You can see it'll be socked in across the
Northeast,
into Texas and across the Great Basin,
but there will be plenty of opportunities to catch those
dazzling,
beautiful spectacles we call the Aurora Borealis.