Central Minnesotans Have A Chance To See Northern Light Display

NORTHERN LIGHTS COULD BE VISIBLE WEDNESDAY MORNING (JULY 24TH)

Get ready for some northern light excitement! I can't believe how many people I know who have lived in Minnesota, still have never had the opportunity to catch the northern lights. Because of some recent solar activity, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a geomagnetic storm watch for July 24th.

WHAT'S CAUSING THIS EVENT?

The cause of the excitement in the evening sky is due to a plume of plasma and magnetic field, known as a Coronal Mass Ejection, released from the sun on July 21st. That CME is now flying towards the earth.

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WHEN CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS?

When can we expect to see the northern lights then? Space Weather Physicist Tamith Skov wrote, "Likely the storm will be fashionably late, due to slow solar wind "traffic" and an additional glancing storm blow ahead of it."

Just like weather on Earth, NOAA says that weather is space is just as hard to predict and that storms like this one are not uncommon, and sometimes they simply fizzle out before we ever get the chance to see an amazing light show.

Regardless, anytime you have an opportunity to see a great light show in the sky, it's worth the wait.

SPACE STORMS CAN CAUSE SOME TECHNOLOGY ISSUES

These kinds of CMEs are NOT always welcome to us here on Earth. They can be really bad for technology. They pose a threat to satellites and any astronauts that might be out there in low earth orbit. They can disrupt radio transmissions and increase radio static, which drives me crazy.

G2 STORM

The storm that is being watched right now is considered a G2-CLASS STORM. Just like tornadoes, a G5 is considered the most extreme, while a G1 is more of a minor storm, but a storm nonetheless!

The best guess at this time is that if the storm holds together, the best time for viewing the northern lights will be after midnight on July 24th...sometime in the early morning hours.