Kansas City Could See Vivid Northern Lights – And There Could Be More To Come | KCUR

Geomagnetic storms brought the Northern Lights across much of the United States on Tuesday evening, turning the sky into brilliant shades of green and pink.

The Aurora Borealis has been spotted in many states including Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Washington state. Northern lights were visible as far south as parts of Florida and Alabama, a relatively rare event that highlights the severity of this week's storms.

“Well, we had activity tonight — a lot of geomagnetic storm activity,” Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center, said in a video on X.

A geomagnetic storm occurs when charged particles from the Sun's atmosphere interact with the Earth's magnetic field. In addition to producing dazzling displays of color, such storms can disrupt technology on Earth, from satellites and GPS to radio communications and the power grid.

Tuesday's activity was the result of a phenomenon called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), massive explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun's outer atmosphere that increase in size as they hurtle toward Earth.

Two CMEs arrived on Earth on Tuesday, Dahl said.

The resulting storm reached G4 levels, the second-highest level on NOAA's five-level scale, and produced a magnetic field that was “not only eight times stronger than normal, but … also favorable for sustained activity,” Dahl said in a later update.

Meteorologists expect a third and final CME, which they expect will arrive on Earth around midday on Wednesday and will be even stronger than the previous two.

“This was the most energetic and powerful of this activity out there in space,” Dahl said. “It was traveling significantly faster than the other two, and we believe it will have an even greater impact than what we have already experienced.”

The Space Weather Prediction Center says the aurora could be visible “over much of the northern half of the country and perhaps even south from Alabama to northern California.”

The Met Office, the UK's national weather service, says the aurora could also be visible over parts of Britain on Wednesday evening, although it is likely to be obscured by cloud cover – as was the case in Michigan on Tuesday.

Luckily, Americans in northern states won't have to wait long for another chance to take a look.

How to see (and photograph!) the Northern Lights.

In order to see the Northern Lights, a dark environment is essential. Therefore, it is important to stay away from light pollution if you want to get a good look at the Northern Lights. According to NOAA, it is easiest to see between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time.

It is difficult to predict the exact time and location of the Northern Lights. However, you can sign up for various services that will notify you when an aurora may be visible in your area. For example, a citizen science platform called Aurorasaurus allows users to report when and where they see an aurora and provides estimates of how visible an aurora is in a given area.

Another option is an app called My Aurora Forecast & Alerts, which can be downloaded on both iOS and Android devices. This is a location-based app that provides viewing probabilities and predictions.

Smartphone cameras can capture the entire spectrum of an aurora better than our naked eyes. So be sure to go out with your phone to view the full color spectrum. If your phone camera has a night mode option, it's best to turn it on when photographing the Northern Lights. You can also switch your phone's camera to manual mode and adjust the exposure settings to get the perfect picture.

Why we see more northern lights

Northern lights have become more common in the United States for some time and will continue to do so for several months. This influx of shimmering colors comes as the sun reaches the peak of its 11-year cycle, and therefore its solar maximum. Solar maximum causes solar flares, and this increase in activity brings ions, or electrically charged particles, closer to Earth. This stream of particles is called the solar wind.

As the solar winds approach Earth, the charged particles collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere. When they collide, light is emitted. The light radiates in different wavelengths and creates a colorful spectacle in the night sky.

When the sun reaches its solar maximum, the number of solar flares increases, which is why there are more auroras in the sky. Normally this activity only occurs near the Arctic Circle, but with solar activity currently strong, observation areas have expanded to other regions such as the Midwest.

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