Aurora lights could illuminate the skies as far south as New York tonight, providing a wonderful opportunity for photographers.
A massive blast of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), on March 1 is hurtling toward Earth and it has the potential to create a geomagnetic storm that results in a show of northern lights.
Space.com reports that NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center predicts that the CME will graze Earth's magnetic field on March 4 or 5. That has the potential to trigger a G1-class geomagnetic storm, the weakest category of geomagnetic storm, but still powerful enough to amplify the aurora borealis.
However, space weather physicist Tamitha Skov says that G2 storm conditions may also come to pass. "Expect G1 to G2 storm conditions by March 5," Dr. Tamitha writes on X (formerly Twitter). "Aurora may be visible down to mid-latitudes where skies are clear."
If the lights do not materialize tonight, then keen photographers should keep checking the weather report as the colorful hues may show up on Wednesday night instead.
NOAA's forecast suggests that geomagnetic activity is expected to peak late on March 4 and into the early hours of March 5. The lights might be seen as far south as New York or Idaho. For anyone in a northern latitude, it may well be worth looking up at the sky tonight.
Geomagnetic storms cause auroras by energizing and exciting particles in Earth's atmosphere when charged solar particles collide with the planet's magnetic field.
Helping these storms is the Sun's 11-year cycle -- which is currently close to solar maximum -- meaning there are currently more CMEs and more geomagnetic storms. That's why it is worth keeping an eye out if you're interested in snapping a photo of the auroras. In May last year, the northern lights shone spectacularly across North America and Europe.