Chance of seeing Northern Lights in Washington fades
Dec 10, 2020, 11:57 AM | Updated: 11:59 am
A general view of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights on March 30, 2017, in Finnmark, Norway. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
There had been some hope of seeing the Northern Lights this week due to a geomagnetic storm watch, but it probably won’t be visible in Washington state.
The original watch alert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was for a geomagnetic storm category G3 (strong) for Thursday, and G2 (moderate) for Friday, with the chance of seeing the Aurora borealis as low as Pennsylvania, Iowa, or Oregon. Wednesday, Dec. 9, had been predicted to be G1 (minor).
That watch has been adjusted by NOAA and the National Weather Service on Thursday to a predicted G1 storm level at best for Dec. 10 and Dec. 11, and below G1 (no chance) for Dec. 12. However, it may still be visible at high latitudes, in the northern tier of the country such as northern Michigan and Maine.
The 7 Dec CME arrived in line with the forecast A shock was observed at DSCOVR at 10/0132 UTC (09 Dec, 8:32pm ET). The magnetic strength was less than the peak potential that could have initiated a G3 storm. Therefore, SWPC downgraded to G1 (Minor) storm Watches for 10-11 Dec. pic.twitter.com/JBiPMaxRfv
— NOAA Space Weather (@NWSSWPC) December 10, 2020
With too much cloud cover in the Puget Sound area, Seattleites and Washingtonians will have to live vicariously through photos from Alaska or other lucky states this time around.
In other atmospheric science related news… A rather significant solar flare occurred a few days ago, creating a solar storm the next few days. We will be socked in clouds, but maybe our friends up at @NWSFairbanks could share some pictures so we can pretend. #wawx #akwx https://t.co/Xfc26HLYm3
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) December 9, 2020
