UPDATE: Northern Lights may be visible as far south as Virginia - WHSV

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HARRISONBURG, Va (WHSV) -

UPDATE: Anticipated timing has changed now to Thursday just after sunset. Space weather forecasting is extremely different from weather forecasting at the surface. There may still be some changes as this solar storm arrives.

Tonight’s anticipated auroral activity in lower latitudes is looking like a bust. The latest SWPC forecast has the strongest (G3) of the solar storm arriving around sunset in the eastern time zone Thursday. https://t.co/OgT3OfqVmG pic.twitter.com/1v8LH7HCWM

— Tony Rice (@rtphokie) December 10, 2020

You may want to save a little time to look up the next few nights. There is the potential the Northern Lights may be seen as far south as Pennsylvania, and in extreme cases, perhaps even across the Mid-Atlantic.

According the NOAA’s Space Weather Agency, a Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) is headed toward the Earth’s atmosphere sometime Wednesday or Thursday. The CMEs are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona. Once these hit the Earth’s atmosphere they spread out and can often create the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis.

Even though this is a strong solar storm, for the northern lights to be visible this far south it needs to be a bit stronger.

Earth-orbiting satellites have just detected a C7-class solar flare coming from sunspot AR2790. UV radiation from the flare caused a minor shortwave radio blackout over South America. Also, the blast *might* have hurled a #CME in our direction. pic.twitter.com/yGbQQSsWdW

— Erika 🔭🌞 (@Astro_Fonseca) December 7, 2020

WHAT IT WOULD TAKE

• The energy would need to hit the atmosphere at night. If it happens during the day, we don’t see it.
• Energy would need to be very strong to make the lights visible far enough south to observe here.
• You’d need to get in a very dark place away from city lights.
• Be sure to have a great view of the northern horizon.

Typically, photographing them produces better results than the naked eye as you can use a long exposure.

That is awesome. So could we see it this far south? It's POSSIBLE-
Would not look like it does across northern latitudes. Would be along the horizon but it has to be strong enough and hitting at night.
Best chance is tonight and at least it's clear! https://t.co/FaMIIqEQiE

— Aubrey Urbanowicz (@WHSVaubs) December 9, 2020

Jason Rinehart, a local astrophotographer, captured the northern lights on camera back in June 2015 from along the Blue Ridge Parkway looking toward the Town of Buchanan. In 2015 that was a C4 geomagnetic storm. The current one is a C3.

Seeing them locally would be rare event, but it has happened before. Don’t set your expectations too high, but then again, it’s fun to go out do some stargazing while you’re at it.

We are patiently waiting for the arrival of a #solarstorm which may trigger the #NorthernLights tonight and tomorrow night. Kp values may reach as high as 7, meaning #aurora could be visible north of the yellow line on this map. Continue to stay with us here for updates. #spacewx pic.twitter.com/sX5E2DdbRm

— Space Weather Watch (@spacewxwatch) December 9, 2020

WHEN TO LOOK

The best time to look will be Thursday after sunset. However, we will have a better idea on timing as the energy gets closer to Earth.

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UPDATE: Northern Lights may be visible as far south as Virginia - WHSV
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