The biggest news of the weekend centers around the massive Geomagnetic Storm that is occurring across the upper reaches of earth’s atmosphere. The result is a massive aurora that last created quite the visual air show for the entire Eastern US including here in North Carolina.
Below is a slideshow of some of the images we received from last night, enjoy!
Will we see another aurora tonight and Sunday?
The short answer to that is…yes!
The geomagnetic storm continues, obviously you don’t see it during the daylight hours for obvious reasons but it does continue and it should be somewhat visible for tonight and Sunday night. A G4 Storm Watch has been issued by the Space Weather Prediction Center.
Timing and Intensity…
With the geomagnetic storm being a scattering of flares into the atmosphere it means the color will be visible at nearly all times but the highest chance lies tonight between sunset and 11 pm with another peak in intensity centered around 4 am Sunday. Current guidance has us reaching G3 level pre-daybreak Sunday with G4 conditions possible after sunrise on Sunday, which is unfortunate.
One last peak in color intensity looks to be centered around 11 pm Sunday night, so we can’t rule out having a light show all three nights this weekend.
NOTE: With the current forecast being G3 as compared to the G5 that verified last night, it will be much harder to see it with the naked eye in an urban setting. So, make your plans tonight to get out in a more rural setting where artificial lights won’t interfere with the show.
We all look forward to seeing what the sky brings us tonight, make sure and post your pictures on our social media pages!
Enjoy!