Elijah Williams
Americans as far south as Alabama and northern California could be treated to a demonstration of the Northern Lights this weekend of a powerful geomagnetic storm heading toward Earth, officials said. If weather conditions are right, people in different areas of a map will be able to look up and see the Northern Lights.
The storm prompted government meteorologists to warn of potential disruptions to communications systems, the power grid and satellite operations, but it could also trigger a fantastic display of light in the night sky.
“The gift of space weather is the aurora,” Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, told reporters Friday morning.
Northern lights map tonight
A downtown map shows that the aurora may be visible across much of the northern half of the US. A red line on the map shows how far south the aurora forecast goes.
Space Weather Prediction Center
The National Weather Service office in St. Louis said people in the area should leave the city for the best possible chance of seeing the Northern Lights.
“Move away from the city lights to a dark rural setting and look north,” says the office said on social media. “Apart from some clouds associated with a passing front, most of the weather appears clear.”
The prediction center notes on its website that people don’t need to be directly beneath the aurora to see it. Instead, it can be observed from up to 620 miles away.
CBS News
The San Francisco Bay Area Weather Service office was less optimistic when asked if there was a chance of an evening show there.
“Probably not, but I will still look up while walking my dog,” the office said he said.
Northern lights map for Saturday night
Friday night isn’t the only opportunity for a Northern Lights show. The storm was expected to last through the weekend, and the forecast center released a forecast map for Saturday night.
Space Weather Prediction Center
Officials said people in the southern US who can’t see the aurora with the naked eye can still take some stunning photos with their phones.
“Cellphones are much better than our eyes at capturing light,” Brent Gordon of the Space Weather Prediction Center told reporters on Friday. “Just walk out the back door with a newer cell phone and you’ll be surprised by what you see in that photo than what you see with your eyes.”
Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images
