TORONTO – If you live in a dark area in Canada and have clear skies tonight, you may want to take that special someone out for a gaze at the stars. You could be rewarded with a very special light show.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has issued a minor geomagnetic storm forecast that is expected to begin tonight. A moderate storm is forecast for Saturday night.
The storm means that there is a good chance of northern lights at higher latitudes.
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The forecast is due to three coronal mass ejections (CME) that left the sun over the past two days. Two of the CMEs were associated with a solar flares and are directed at least partially toward Earth.
Coronal mass ejections are eruptions of plasma particles into space. They are carried by the solar wind and if they are Earth-directed, their interaction with our magnetic field can trigger the northern lights.
If you want to check ahead of time before going out into the chilly night, click here before you go out. If the Kp index (which measures disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field) is at 4 or higher, there’s a good chance that if you’re in a good location with dark skies, you’ll see some northern lights. Higher than 4 is even better, of course.
Now, there’s no guarantee that there’ll be a light show, but you never know. At least you’ll give him or her a night under the stars.
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