Topline
The northern lights could be visible again on Wednesday night and Thursday night, forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, giving some states along the U.S.-Canadian border a potential spectacle before and after Thanksgiving.
The aurora borealis could be visible from some states along the U.S.-Canadian border before and after Thanksgiving.
Associated Press
Key Facts
Forecasters at NOAA are predicting a Kp index of four out of nine on Wednesday night, meaning the northern lights have a chance to appear brighter, with more “motion and formations.”
The Kp index is currently expected to remain at four on Thursday night as well, meaning viewers in some northern states could see the lights over Thanksgiving.
The Earth could also see the effect of minor geomagnetic storms on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, due to lingering effects from solar winds from a coronal hole.
What Are Coronal Holes?
Coronal holes are regions of the sun with less dense, relatively cooler plasma with open magnetic fields, according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. They are found in the sun’s corona, or outermost atmosphere. In photographs taken by astronomers, they appear darker than other parts of the sun due to their temperature. Coronal holes can produce solar winds, which space weather forecasters call “high speed streams.” When these solar winds interact with the earth’s magnetic field, they can produce geomagnetic storm effects. The geomagnetic storms predicted for Wednesday night and Thursday morning are expected to be mild (a G1 on NOAA’s scale out of five), but even mild storms could cause the northern lights to appear visible in the lower 48 states.