Northern Lights may be visible this weekend

The Northern Lights may be visible on both Friday and Saturday nights.

According to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, minor-to-strong geomagnetic storms are likely over the weekend due to influences from the Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) that left the sun late on October 1st and midday on October 3rd.

CME’s are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona. Solar activity is expected to be minor-to-moderate with the chance of stronger flares over the next couple of nights as particles from these solar flares slam into Earth’s upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 million MPH resulting in the Northern Lights.

Peak viewing times on Friday night into Saturday will be in the 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM timeframe and 7:00 PM on Saturday night to 6:00 AM on Sunday.

The Northern Lights are most always tricky to forecast and are never guaranteed so take that into consideration for anyone planning to try and view them.

Viewing should be ideal on both Friday and Saturday night. Skies will be mainly clear on Friday night with cool temperatures in the 50s to upper 40s. A few clouds will be around on Saturday evening with clearing skies through the night as temperatures cool off from the 60s into the 50s.