Northern lights visible in metro-east Friday night. Will we see them again this weekend?

Kelly Smits
·2 min read

A solar storm started hitting the Earth Friday, causing northern lights to dazzle the sky across much of the country, including the metro-east.

Forecasters at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have observed at least seven coronal mass ejections — explosions of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s corona — which cause geomagnetic storms when they reach Earth.

Geomagnetic storms can affect power and communications on Earth, but they can also lead colorful auroras to sweep the sky.

The last solar storm of this magnitude was in October 2003, according to NOAA. The impacts started arriving midday Friday and are expected to continue though Sunday.

In the metro-east Friday night, northern lights could be seen from places like west Belleville and Freeburg Township near Fayetteville.

Northern lights visible from Freeburg Township near Fayetteville at about 10 p.m. Friday night.
Northern lights visible from Freeburg Township near Fayetteville at about 10 p.m. Friday night.

Hundreds of residents are sharing their photos from the Friday night phenomenon with the National Weather Service’s St. Louis office on Facebook.

“Overnight, aurora were visible across much of the United States. Weather permitting, they may be visible again tonight,” NOAA said in a Saturday morning update.

NOAA has an experimental aurora forecast for tonight that shows the “viewline” — the southern-most locations that can see the aurora — cutting through the middle of Illinois just north of the metro-east. A shorter-term, 30-minute forecast of aurora location and intensity is available on NOAA’s website.

The aurora forecast for the night of Saturday, May 11. Aurora can be observed from sunset to sunrise from as far as 1,000 kilometers away depending on conditions.
The aurora forecast for the night of Saturday, May 11. Aurora can be observed from sunset to sunrise from as far as 1,000 kilometers away depending on conditions.

“If the northern lights do get this far south tonight, completely clear forecast. Basically not a cloud in the sky,” said Lydia Jaja, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service St. Louis office.

Temperatures will be in the upper 40s to low 50s, so all folks will need is a light jacket and no surrounding light pollution to see the northern lights if they do arrive.

Sunday night, the weather is not going to be as good with overcast skies and rain moving in, Jaja said. Saturday night is probably the “last chance” to see the lights in our region during the solar storm, according to Jaja.