Will Delaware see the northern lights Sunday? Here's the forecast
Still hoping to catch a glimpse of the northern lights in Delaware? You may have another chance Sunday night.
Unlike Friday and Saturday, when gloomy weather made it hard—if not impossible—to see the aurora borealis, the National Weather Service said that the skies should be somewhat clearer Sunday night, especially in the lower half of the First State.
The aurora will once again be most visible between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., and a National Weather Service meteorologist said it will likely be on and off throughout the night.
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Will the aurora based be seen in Delaware?
The Space Weather Prediction Center's experimental forecast map shows the aurora may be visible Sunday in New England, the Midwest, the Upper Plains and the Pacific Northwest regions. The streaks of light may be seen as far South as Iowa and Nebraska.
If you missed the view on Friday or Saturday due to cloud cover, you might be in luck Sunday, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tom Kines told USA TODAY. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, blanketed by clouds for most of the last two nights, should have a much clearer view of any aurora activity, but clouds may block it if you live in the center of the country.
What are the chances of seeing an aurora based on?
Besides the clear weather and dark skies needed for peak aurora viewing, the chances grow over a larger area when the levels of geomagnetic storm activity are highest.
Just like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration uses a scale to measure the strength of hurricanes and tornadoes, it also uses a scale to rate the strength of geomagnetic storms, when coronal mass ejections from the sun reach the outer layers of the earth's atmosphere.
A G 5 (extreme)represents the greatest chances of seeing auroras over the greatest expanse of the Earth. That's what happened on Friday night, when people saw the aurora in the Florida Keys and Mexico. The hours of potential viewing expand toward evening and morning as the level of geomagnetic activity increases.
On Saturday night, the observed scale was a G 3 (Strong).
On Sunday night, NOAA predicts it's possible that storm activity will reach G 4 (Severe.) Several intense coronal mass ejections are expected to reach the Earth's atmosphere later today.
What causes the aurora?
NASA describes an aurora as an "intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and the Earth."
The Sun's activity creates strong electrical currents known as geomagnetic storms.
These eruptions are mostly happening at a large, complex sunspot cluster, NOAA'S Space Weather Prediction Center said. Sunspots, which increase and decreaseon a 11-year cycle, are areas where the magnetic field is about 2,500 times stronger than Earth's.
The reason the auroras move is because of how the Sun's ionized gases interact with the Earth's magnetic field.
Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on X at @h_edelman.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Northern lights stun Americans again. Forecast for Sunday
