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The Aurora Borealis May Be Visible Tonight In The Northern US (cnn.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the northern-states-northern-lights dept.

An anonymous reader quotes CNN:A geomagnetic storm could bring a spectacular show to skies across the northern United States on Sunday night. The Aurora Borealis phenomenon -- also known as the Northern Lights -- may be visible "as low as New York to Wisconsin to Washington State," according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center... NOAA said the best viewing times to catch the light show, clouds permitting, will be between 11 p.m. ET Sunday and 2 a.m. Monday, and again between 2 a.m. ET to 5 a.m.

5 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Funny. by Rei · · Score: 2

    I'm in Iceland, yet won't be able to see it. In part because it's cloudy, but mainly because we don't get a real "night" at this time of the year. You'll have a better view of it in the states than up here by the Arctic Circle ;)

    --
    Nietzche: "I'm immortal because I'm all sin." Jesus: "I forgive you." (Bang!) -- Jesus Christ Supercop
  2. Odds are, this had to be coming by rmdingler · · Score: 2

    At last. .. been waiting for a strategic advantage to our geographic location.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  3. It will be related to global warming somehow by Tangential · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Forget the Russians, by tomorrow there will be 'news' stories tying this to AGW somehow.

    --
    Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain
  4. Don't forget the rest of the Northern Hemisphere by Tomahawk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This isn't a US only phenomenon! Remember, guys, there's a "rest of the world" too!

    For the rest of us, this could be visible in:
    - Ireland
    - Most of the UK (Sorry London!)
    - Denmark, and the rest of the Scandinavian countries (darkness permitting)
    - The North of Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Belarus
    - Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia
    - Across most of Russia as low as Moscow
    - Maybe even Northern Kazakhstan
    - All of Canada (darkness permitting)
    - As well as the North-Eastern half of the USA (From Oregon down to Kentucky, and over to Delaware).

  5. Not quite... by dfm3 · · Score: 3, Informative

    The aurora are not always visible all around the globe at the same latitude; they often appear brighter in one hemisphere and not the other at a given time. There's a good visualization here: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/produ...

    So, it could very well be that Fairbanks could get a very good show one night (assuming it's not mid summer and it's dark enough) while Iceland might not see anything, even though they are both roughly at the same latitude.

    Also, the aurora typically aren't as intense right at the poles, but are often most intense at less extreme latitudes around 60 degrees. So it's not unheard of for the aurora to be very impressive in Alberta, while not even being visible in the north part of the Yukon.