A geomagnetic storm has the potential to provide aurora borealis over the Northern Hemisphere from Sunday evening into Monday morning, with some states along the US-Canadian border having the potential to see the Northern Lights.
Based on NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, the event will reach a level two out of 5 on the Geomagnetic Storm Impact scale.
An event that registers as a G-2 is fairly common and occurs about 360 days over an 11-year cycle.
Based on NOAA, some northern power systems may experience voltage alarms, spacecraft may exhibit orbit changes and radio frequencies can fade at higher latitudes.
If the night sky is evident, some northern states from Washington to Maine might have the option to see the geomagnetic activity in the shape of an aurora.
The extent of geomagnetic activity can also be monitored by ground-based magnetometers, and the event is measured on the Kp index scale, which ranges from 0 to 9.
As of Saturday, the best value expected for the upcoming event on the Kp index was a 6.3, which implies cities corresponding to Seattle, Minneapolis and Green Bay will have the option to see the Northern Lights, if skies are clear and light-weight pollution is low.
Cloud cover can inhibit viewing, and huge sections of the Pacific Northwest are forecast to be under a good layer of clouds.
Many of the Midwest is anticipated to be nearly cloud-free, which can enable viewing.
If initial forecasts are underestimating the event and the geomagnetic storm is stronger than expected, the prospect to look at to aurora would sink further south and include communities around Des Moines, Iowa; Chicago; Cleveland; and Portland, Maine.
The very best viewing is usually between 10 p.m. and a couple of a.m. local time, and because of the moon being in a Waxing Crescent phase, the lunar body mustn’t be a hindrance to skywatchers.
The late weekend event is anticipated to be much weaker than March’s severe geomagnetic storm that caused the Northern Lights to be seen as far south as Las Vegas, Phoenix, Nashville and Asheville, North Carolina.
The Space Weather Prediction Center identified the spectacular event as a level 4 on its 5-point scale.
