Will the Northern Lights be visible again in Middle TN?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The short answer is, for Saturday evening, no. However, there is hope if you want to get up at 4 a.m. Sunday and take a look outside.
The updated forecast from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center has said that we may reach G5 status again (like Friday night) between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. But remember, sunrise is at 5:43 a.m., so the closer to 4 a.m. you can get outside, the better.
Many Middle Tennesseans looked up at the sky Friday night to find a nice and unusual sight: A view of the Northern Lights. If you missed out on that, the Midstate will have another shot at viewing this phenomenon this weekend.
The science behind Northern Lights in Middle Tennessee & prediction for next showing
Many WKRN viewers sent in some great photos of the Northern Lights Friday night. Click here to see a gallery of these pictures.
Friday night, the intensity of the geomagnetic storm reached an incredible G5, which is the highest category on the Space Weather Prediction Center’s (SWPC) geomagnetic intensity scale.
However, the chance of this on Saturday night is not as favorable as Friday night.
Can’t see the northern lights? Try using your phone camera
After Friday night’s peak intensity of G5, the storm has been G4 on the intensity scale during the evening hours through midnight Saturday. The storm is forecast to reach the G5 intensity level as we move towards daybreak hours between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. Sunday. This intensification could allow for the chance to see this rare phenomenon in Middle Tennessee once again.
Even if we do not get another view of the Northern Lights Saturday evening, this storm is one for the record books and will be remembered as one of the strongest to impact the United States. The last time a G5 storm occurred anywhere on the globe was over 20 years ago in October 2003, causing power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa.
Currently, no serious problems have been reported from Friday’s G5 storm, which is very impressive considering the K-Scale values reached by this storm. This is another index used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which ranges from 0 to 9 and measures disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field. The value of Friday’s storm peaked at the top of the K-Scale with a value of 9.
Views of the Northern Lights from around the US
Thankfully, no major power grid problems have been reported as a result of Friday’s storm and the only noticeable effect from the storm has been beautiful views of the Northern Lights in many areas of the South that usually cannot see them.
If you do happen to take pictures of the Northern Lights on Saturday night or Sunday morning, feel free to send them to pix@wkrn.com.
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