Will northern lights appear in California or the Bay Area tonight?
The northern lights are likely to make a rare appearance Thursday night in states far to the south of their usual trajectory, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
The agency predicted that a severe geomagnetic storm, which causes the red and green bands of light, will hit Earth by midday Thursday, May 11, creating the aurora while also intermittently disrupting satellite, radio and GPS systems.
The space weather agency predicted that the lights would be visible as far south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon.
It did not mention California, but many still held out hope.
“More northern lights for NorCal?” the National Weather Service’s Sacramento branch wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, as projections for the Thursday storm grew closer.
“If you want to see the Northern Lights find a night sky away from city lights and look toward the north,” the weather service added. “We’ve had a couple of events in the past month or so, but it is unknown if the upcoming event will allow viewing of the Aurora this far south.”
The northern lights are typically most visible near the North Pole, sometimes stretching lower into Canada and the northern United States. But Californians did catch a glimpse of the phenomenon earlier this year, and for enthusiasts hoping to get another look, experts say there are ways to improve your chances.
It must be dark to see the aurora, the space weather prediction center says on its tips webpage, and best viewing is usually between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.
The storm on Thursday was rated as G3 level, or “strong,” by the NOAA center, with “moderate” activity continuing into Friday. According to Space.com, the auroras will result from highly unusual solar activity — with a “backwards” polarity that occurs in only 3% of sunspots.
UCLA space physics Professor Vassilis Angelopoulos previously told The Chronicle that, in addition to getting as far away from the city as possible, light watchers should follow NOAA’s space weather forecasts to see the geomagnetic K-index, a measure of the strength of the storms, hit 7.
However, cloudy skies could also obscure Californians’ view. And space weather predictions can change significantly, even hour by hour.
Chronicle meteorologist Gerry Díaz said that while high fog will spread over San Francisco, the Peninsula and along the Bay Thursday night, skies are forecast to be much clearer as you head into the North Bay’s Napa, Santa Rosa and Petaluma valleys. Cloverdale can expect some clouds, but should be mostly clear as well.
In the East Bay, cloud cover will mostly be west of the Caldecott Tunnel, while residents in Walnut Creek, Livermore and the Sacramento Valley should have mostly clear skies, Díaz said, but high fog is possible around Vallejo, Concord and Pittsburg.
Further north, Díaz said, clouds may set up along the Eureka and Mendocino coast after sunset, leading to limited visibility for the northern lights along Highway 101. A better bet would be to head east toward I-5, where clear skies are forecast for the Medford, Redding and Shasta areas overnight.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
