Remember everything Have you seen photos posted on social media from a few months ago of the Northern Lights appearing in all their glory in an unexpected southern location? Be prepared to see them again, or maybe for the first time. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts the Northern Lights will return to unusual locations starting this Tuesday.
The aurora is expected to be visible across the northern US and upper Midwest, northern Britain and northern Europe over the next few days, as the UK Met Office predicts a “powerful geomagnetic storm” will reach Earth.
NOAA predicts that in the US, the aurora will hit a Kp index of level 5 on a nine-point scale that measures disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field, with level 9 being the strongest. This means the auroras will appear farther south than usual and be visible in northern US states from Maine to Washington.
For Europe, the UK Met Office predicts that “the probability of a strong geomagnetic storm (G3) will peak on Wednesday 24 July”. In its space weather forecast for 23 July, the Met Office said this will result in “possible aurora visibility over Northern Ireland, northern England and similar geomagnetic latitudes, hindered by the close to full moon and limited hours of darkness”. In the Southern Hemisphere, the Met Office predicts that “the aurora will be visible over Tasmania and southern New Zealand”.
Space Weather Live, a Belgian nonprofit that tracks auroral and solar activity, predicts that a geomagnetic storm approaching the Northern Hemisphere will reach Kp index level 6 this week, with the storm likely to peak between Wednesday and Thursday.
This doesn’t quite match the strength of the geomagnetic storm on May 10. All three UK geomagnetic observatories recorded the May storm with a Kp index of 9, the highest rating possible. The storm is forecast to weaken this week, so the auroras won’t be as vivid or extend as far from the Earth’s poles, as they did in May, when they extended as far as mainland Europe and the southern US states.
The increase in solar activity in recent months comes as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year solar cycle, and NOAA predicts that auroras will become more frequent and appear at lower latitudes than usual as we approach a solar maximum, predicted to occur between late 2024 and early 2026.
This all happened after NASA captured the biggest solar flare in the last seven years in December. The flare prompted NOAA to warn of minor fluctuations in the power grid and possible disruptions to radio services and spacecraft. NOAA monitors sunspot regions for outbursts of solar material, or “coronal mass ejections,” that could be aimed at Earth and cause these colorful light shows at high latitudes. In this case, an outburst of solar material that occurred on Sunday could be the reason for the aurora borealis to be visible from Tuesday to Thursday.
If you want to maximise your chances of seeing the Northern Lights wherever you are this week, make sure you go somewhere with as little light pollution as possible and check the weather to make sure there are no clouds – a dark, clear sky is best – and try taking photos with your phone camera, which often produces better images than what you can see with the naked eye.
