There will still be northern lights this Sunday night: see if you live where they can be seen

Did you miss the Northern Lights? You might even get a chance to see them this Sunday night. It all depends on where you live and weather conditions.

This is because “elevated geomagnetic conditions” will persist throughout this Sunday night when coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are expected from the sun, so “additional (borealis) aurora” can be thought of, he said through the community of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, its acronym in English). ) networks.

According to the agency, auroras are likely to be seen late Sunday night and early Monday morning across the northern part of the country and south from Alabama to northern California.

Although you should consider your state's weather, many visitors are disappointed by overcast skies that prevent this natural phenomenon from being seen in the sky.

“This may be the last CME from this solar storm directed towards Earth,” Matthew Owens, professor of space physics at the University of Reading, told AFP.

So, this Sunday and Monday may be the last chance to observe these phenomena, although they will certainly not be at the same intensity.

According to The Washington Post, activity is expected to ease slightly by dawn Monday, reaching moderate (G2) to strong (G3) levels.

Forecasts indicate that the auroras will be visible to the naked eye as far away as Illinois and Oregon.

By Tuesday morning, conditions will drop to near-zero levels.

NOAA, the scientific agency that monitors conditions in the atmosphere and oceans, explained that a CME ejecta is an explosion of solar material that can create a geomagnetic storm when it reaches Earth.

This geomagnetic storm has the potential to severely damage power and electricity supplies in various parts of the Earth, but it is also expected to cause unusual phenomena such as the Northern Lights in areas such as southern Alabama or northern California.

“Geomagnetic storms can affect infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on the Earth's surface, disrupting communications, electric power grids, navigation, radio and satellite operations,” NOAA explained.

However, the same phenomenon that causes these interferences also causes the Northern Lights to be seen in places where they are not normally seen due to darkness in the area.