The US states where Aurora could be seen tonight

Northern lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, may be visible in the northern U.S. states on Monday evening as a coronal mass ejection from the Sun has been detected reaching Earth.

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a cloud of magnetic fields and charged particles from the Sun that streams into space at up to 3,000 kilometers per second. From the Sun, it can take several days to reach Earth, but an exact arrival time is difficult to predict in advance.

A “G2 Geomagnetic Storm Alert” issued yesterday by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center remains in effect today, according to a post by the agency on X.

US states on the “Viewline”

A geomagnetic storm is a disturbance of the Earth’s magnetic field caused by the solar wind, but a G2 storm is not the strongest. The furious auroras seen at lower latitudes around the world on and around May 10 were caused by a G5 geomagnetic storm. The G2 geomagnetic storm forecast for tonight is “moderately intense,” meaning an auroral oval around the North Pole that will not extend as far south.

According to the SWPC, the U.S. states at or above the line of sight – a forecast of the intensity and location of the aurora borealis – are Washington, northern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, northern South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Michigan and northern Vermont, northern New England and northern Maine. Much of Canada will likely see an aurora borealis.

The line of sight represents the southernmost locations where you can see the aurora on the northern horizon tonight. If you are in one of these states and want to see the aurora tonight, avoid light pollution and remember that the short hours of darkness limit the viewing window.

What causes the aurora?

The solar wind in space causes auroras – charged particles from the sun – to be accelerated along the field lines of the Earth’s magnetic field. They form in the Earth’s ionosphere hundreds of kilometers above the surface.

The aurora, visible around the world on May 10, was the strongest geomagnetic storm in 21 years. Northern lights were seen as far south as Arizona and Florida. Red and very rarely blue aurora were seen across much of Europe and North America.

The coronal mass ejection reaching Earth tonight comes from the same sunspot region – now called AR3697 – that caused the May 10 geomagnetic storm.

“Solar maximum” approaching

May was the most active month on the Sun in decades, with 171 sunspots recorded. Sunspots are magnetic disturbances on the Sun’s surface that can be as large as the Earth and from which solar flares and coronal mass ejections originate. The Sun is so active because it is near its “solar maximum,” which the SWPC predicts will occur this year. The Sun has a roughly 11-year solar cycle during which its activity waxes and wanes.

The Northern Lights are usually seen as an auroral oval around the North Pole at about 66-69 degrees north latitude – the Arctic Circle. The best places to see them are Alaska, northern Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Norwegian Lapland, Swedish Lapland, Finnish Lapland and northern Russia.

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