Here’s Where Americans Could See the Northern Lights on New Year’s Eve

Looks like the sun is in a festive mood: A powerful geomagnetic storm is on watch for the next day, raising the possibility of an aurora—a Northern Lights show—on New Year’s Eve.

The National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Geomagnetic storm watch For Dec. 31, based on a coronal mass ejection — an eruption on the Sun’s surface — that occurred on Dec. 29. The New Year’s Eve storm watch was rated a G3 for a strong storm. According to SWPC, strong storms can disorient spacecraft and cause problems with GPS and low-frequency radio navigation systems. Auroras are forecast for “many northern states and parts of the lower Midwest to Oregon,” according to the warning. But don’t despair if you live further south; Space meteorologists say That new phone camera technology can pick up lights even when your eyes can’t see them. So even if the aurora isn’t expected in your area, it doesn’t hurt to try to photograph it.

Auroras This happens when charged particles from the Sun interact with Earth’s magnetic field, causing the gases in our planet’s atmosphere to burn. When solar activity is more extreme—that is, when our host star blasts material into space in solar flares—it creates bright auroras, sometimes surprisingly near the equator.

The sun goes through a 11 year solar cycleAmong which the weather in most places tends to become more severe. There are approximately 200 G3 geomagnetic storms per solar cycle, and the Sun is now somewhere near its maximum, causing several Significant geomagnetic storms Happened this year. In May, the world felt Strong geomagnetic storm Hitting the planet in 20 years, that sent auroras across the sky as far south as Florida and Texas.

SWPC also announcement Two strong radio blackout events on Monday were caused by a pair of flares on the Sun. Effects of the flare may include signal loss in high-frequency communications bands on Earth’s day side, the alert noted, although the associated coronal mass ejection “was determined to have no Earth-directed component.”

There is a G3 storm watch as well as a G1 (or smaller) storm watch for New Year’s Day, with the possibility of upgrading that alert to a G2 storm watch. Space weather researchers cannot determine the exact magnitude of the geomagnetic disturbance until the charged particles from the Sun are within 1 million miles (1.61 million kilometers) of Earth, or within about 30-60 minutes of arriving at Earth. According to the Storm Watch notice, “No CME is expected to make a direct hit, which makes predicting intensity more difficult.”

Auroras are best seen in clear skies away from prominent light sources. In other words, if you’re trying to catch Earth’s natural light show, it’s best to stay away from artificial light shows on New Year’s Eve. Catch you all for another dynamic year in 2025 under the patronage of our exploding stars.