Tonight’s The Night For A Dazzling Northern Lights Show

If you want to take a chance at seeing the Northern Lights tonight, you might have a pretty good opportunity here in central Minnesota.

The Aurora forecast is showing high activity this evening, if conditions are right.

THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

To be able to view the wonder of the Northern Lights is truly special. Not everyone lives in lowlight areas, and I'm often surprised by the number of people I know who have never seen them, even though they live in the land of 10,000 lakes, where the northern lights are highly visible.

HOW TO KNOW WHEN TO LOOK FOR NORTHERN LIGHTS

There is a way you can predict times to check them out, and tonight might be one of those nights.

There is a website from the Geophysical Institute, which provides Aurora forecasts, for those hoping to catch a glimpse of the flickering lights.

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NORTHERN LIGHT ACTIVITY THIS WEEKEND

Tonight, Friday, May 15th, the forecast is showing high activity beginning around 10 pm and lasting until about 1 am.

If the skies are clear, auroral activity should be visible here in Minnesota.

If you don't get a chance to see them Friday night, we may get a repeat on Saturday evening in the same time frame. We're getting what's called a KP value of 4

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WHAT DOES THE KP NUMBER MEAN?

The KP number describes the geomagnetic activity and is computed by averaging the magnetic activity from stations around the world every few hours. The range of activity can be from a KP of 0 all the way up to a KP of 9, but anything that is rated 5 or over is considered to be a geomagnetic storm.

WHAT TYPE OF ACTIVITY WILL YOU SEE?

There are many different forms of northern light activity that you might see. Sometimes it shows up as glowing streaks without any structure. These are known as Homogeneous arcs. When the lights become a little bit more active, they call it a Rayed arc, and you might see vertical stripes, or what they call 'fine pleats' in the sky.

Corona aurora's look like rays shooting out in all directions from a single point in the sky. Rising Vapor Column appears to rise like smoke and is sometimes near the horizon, which makes it look like it could touch the ground.

BEST WAY TO VIEW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

The best way to view the northern lights would be to find a dark, dark location. If you know a farmer who lives out in the country away from city lights...or if you drive out into the countryside and find a dark location for a couple of hours, this is going to be your best bet for viewing the northern lights.

Grab a blanket, some snacks, and your favorite music, and see if you can locate them. Photos are great, but there is NOTHING like seeing them with your own two eyes when you get a chance to see them at their best. It's always worth the wait.