Topline
The northern lights have a higher chance to appear in the continental United States on Tuesday night, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its daily space weather forecast, due to expected solar winds potentially causing minor geomagnetic storms.
The northern lights could appear as far south as northern Iowa and South Dakota, according to NOAA’s view line.
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Key Facts
Forecasters at NOAA are predicting a Kp index of five out of nine on Tuesday night, meaning the northern lights could appear brighter and further south from Earth’s magnetic north pole.
The Earth could also see minor geomagnetic storms on Tuesday night, due to the impact of high speed streams coming from a coronal hole in the Sun’s outermost atmosphere.
What Are Coronal Holes?
Coronal holes are large regions of the Sun’s corona, or outermost layer of atmosphere, that appear darker in images taken by astronomers. These regions are made up of less dense, relatively cooler plasma and have open magnetic fields, which allow high speed solar winds to escape. When these winds interact with the Earth’s magnetic field, they can create geomagnetic storms. The storms forecast for Tuesday are only predicted to cause minor impacts—a G1 on NOAA’s scale out of five. However, these storms can frequently make the northern lights appear visible further south in the lower 48 states.