Ongoing geomagnetic storm increases chances to see Northern Lights again Wednesday
FILE - Northern lights (Aurora Borealis) illuminate the sky in Alaska's Eklutna Tailrace, United States on March 09, 2025. (Photo by Hasan Akbas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
If you missed your chance earlier this week to see the Northern Lights, the geomagnetic storm continues to increase the likelihood of aurora lights along the northern U.S. on Wednesday.
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) first issued a Geomagnetic Storm Watch earlier this week, predicting the arrival of influences from a coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS). The watch has been extended through Wednesday night as influences from this space weather feature continue.
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As the CH HSS influences reach Earth, there is a chance for G2 (moderate) storm conditions this week, based on NOAA's 5-point geomagnetic storm scale.
Aurora viewing forecast for March 26-27, 2025. (FOX Weather)
So far this week, the SWPC has reported G1 and G2 conditions from this solar storm. During a solar storm of this level, Northern Lights could be visible from New York to Idaho. The SWPC forecasts the greatest expected Kp index on Wednesday night to reach 5.67 out of 9, which could mean moderate geomagnetic storming.
It could be a good night, weather-wise, to view the Northern lights with minimal cloud cover in North Dakota, New York and Maine. Meanwhile, a rare severe weather event in the Pacific Northwest could block the view in Washington.
Wednesday night cloud-cover forecast. (FOX Weather)
On Tuesday, aurora lights were seen as far south as Central Illinois, where the video above was recorded.
How to survive a coronal mass ejection
Most of Earth's modern power grids are more than capable of handling a large solar flare or coronal mass ejection but, what if a particularly strong space weather event took place?
A coronal hole is an area on the surface of the Sun with cooler plasma that appears like a dark hole in satellite images. The less dense, cooler plasma travels at faster speeds into space, streaming along the Sun's magnetic field lines. When these charged particles interact with oxygen and nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere, they briefly energize the molecule, giving off light as they de-energize, producing the colorful lights known as aurora borealis or the Northern Lights.
A dark area on the Sun, known as a coronal hole, seen on NOAA GOES Satellite image from March 24, 2025. (NOAA)
The timing of the latest geomagnetic storm falls right after the spring equinox on March 20, which is one of the best times of year to view auroras because of the way the solar wind interacts with Earth's magnetosphere.
Influences from a coronal hole can have lasting impacts. As the Sun rotates every 27 days, the feature will again face Earth and smack us again with these super-speed particles.