It's possible the northern lights will pulsate over parts of the nation tonight. But will Philly ever see these things? Experts say it's unlikely.
The northern skies glowing pink and orange with the aurora borealis near Walla Walla, Wash., in March.A “moderate” solar storm is forecast for Friday evening, and it’s possible once again that the northern lights will pulsate over parts of the nation. But barring the unforeseen, Philadelphians are unlikely to see them unless they’re vacationing in Vermont or New Hampshire.
Not that the unforeseen is out of the question: Forecasting storms brewing 93 million miles away is a bit tricker than, say, predicting the weather in Death Valley, says Bill Murtagh, program director for the Space Weather Prediction Center. For example, on Thursday evening the storm activity fell well short of forecasts.
Murtagh said that the activity on the sun this week has been quite “unusual” with more than a dozen so-called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, erupting from the solar surface. CMEs speed toward Earth at speeds up to to 6,000,000 mph.the interaction of CMEs and the earth’s magnetosphereWithin the limits of the science, the space weather center does offer guidance — very much subject to change — on where the aurora might be visible.
Since solar storms can ignite the aurora borealis, they are of particular interest to the public since the storm outlooks are proxy for northern-lights potential.for solar storms and the corresponding “Kp Index,” a handy number for tracking aurora potential., and the “2″ is on a 1-to-5 scale. A G2 can affect some power systems and spacecrafts.
More significantly, the associated Kp number — which indicates how far south an aurora could be seen — is 6, meaning the lights might be visible in northern New England. Philly needs something closer to an 8 for a decent chance.
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