NOAA\u2019s 30-minute aurora forecast<\/a> or download apps such as Aurora Now, My Aurora Forecast or Glendale Aurora for near-real-time alerts and solar-wind data.<\/p>\nWhether an aurora display materializes largely depends on the interplanetary magnetic field, specifically its Bz component (you\u2019ll find it in some of the above apps and on SpaceWeatherLive.com). Bz determines how easily solar energy enters Earth\u2019s magnetosphere. When Bz is northward, coupling between the solar wind and Earth\u2019s magnetosphere is generally less efficient. When Bz turns southward, magnetic reconnection can transfer more solar-wind energy into the magnetosphere, increasing the likelihood of geomagnetic and auroral activity. A sustained southward Bz \u2014 particularly when accompanied by elevated solar-wind speed and magnetic-field strength \u2014 can increase the likelihood of auroral activity. Values near or below \u22125 nT may be encouraging, but Bz alone cannot reliably predict whether aurora will be visible from a particular location.<\/p>\n
What Causes The Northern Lights<\/p>\n
The northern lights are caused by the solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles flowing from the sun that interacts with Earth\u2019s magnetic field. While Earth\u2019s magnetic field deflects much of the solar wind, disturbances can transfer energy into the magnetosphere and accelerate charged particles along magnetic-field lines into the polar upper atmosphere where they collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms. These collisions excite the gases, causing them to release energy as shimmering light.<\/p>\n
A CME is a large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the sun\u2019s corona. CMEs are often associated with solar flares, although either phenomenon can occur without the other. Unlike solar flares, which travel at the speed of light, CMEs can travel at speeds of up to about 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) per second, with Earth-directed CMEs typically taking roughly one to several days to reach Earth. If they are Earth-directed, they can produce geomagnetic storms and auroras.<\/p>\n
How To Increase Your Chances Of Seeing Aurora<\/p>\n
Mid-latitude aurora sightings have occurred more frequently during the past two years because the sun reached the solar maximum phase of its 11-year solar cycle, when Earth-directed eruptions and other space-weather disturbances have been more common. The sun is now in its declining phase, with sightings of aurora from areas south of the Arctic Circle often limited to a faint glow low on the northern horizon.<\/p>\n
For the best chance of seeing the northern lights, plan a trip between September and March to high northern latitudes near and above the Arctic Circle \u2014 in Alaska, northern Canada and the Nordic region, including northern Norway, Sweden and Finland, as well as Iceland. There, displays are typically more frequent, brighter and far more frequent and generally more dramatic than displays seen from the contiguous U.S., sometimes spreading across the entire night sky.<\/p>\n
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Space weather forecast are for up to a G1-class geomagnetic storm Friday, July 10, through Saturday, July 11,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":925623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[12460,90860,373456,373455,746,91251,90857,90859,159,48717,344906,67,132,68,373457],"class_list":["post-925622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-aurora-borealis","tag-aurora-forecast","tag-aurora-forecast-map","tag-aurora-visibility","tag-environment","tag-geomagnetic-storm","tag-northern-lights-forecast","tag-northern-lights-tonight","tag-science","tag-solar-storm","tag-space-weather-forecast","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-where-to-see-the-northern-lights"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116896071941617416","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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