KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Green and red hues may dazzle your late Friday night sky in West Michigan and throughout the Mitten.
The Northern Lights have already been observed this week from New England to Iowa and northward into Canada.
An active and well-noted sunspot blasted a coronal mass ejection, or CME, toward earth Tuesday.
Generally, it takes a few days for the plasma and associated energy to arrive in our atmosphere. Its arrival induces a moderate geomagnetic storm.
Per spaceweather.com: Yesterday, a long-duration M2-class solar flare hurled a CME directly toward Earth. NOAA forecast models predict it will arrive on Oct. 9th, delivering a blow that could spark a G2-class geomagnetic storm
The strength of these instances is described in the Kp Index scale, which ranges from 0 to 9.
A value of 5 is usually good enough to set off auroras in Northern Lower and the UP.
But, a Kp Index value of 6, Friday night’s forecast, is usually good enough to get the job right in our own backyard.
Right now, it seems the best window to see the Northern Lights is from late Friday night, toward midnight, and into the wee hours of Saturday, pre-daybreak.
If you happen to see the Northern Lights, take photos or video and upload them to our Chime In galleries. We would love to put your auroras on TV on News Channel 3.
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