ROANOKE, Va. – Happy Monday, and welcome to another edition of Beyond The Forecast!
I’ve always said that it’s been on my bucket list to view the Northern Lights, and I’m sure many of you share that same feeling. It’s still crazy to me that a lot of us got to check that off without having to fly to Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, etc.
We first told you about the potential for aurora viewing early last Friday morning, but what happened Friday night exceeded expectations. Man, did you knock it out by sharing that experience with us through Pin It.
[HERE IS A PHOTO GALLERY showcasing some of your work the day after.]
This was a great learning experience for us, as we don’t normally delve into space weather.
We know that the sun is in what’s called a solar maximum, or will be approaching it in 2025. This was a topic we covered in our 2023-2024 Winter Weather Outlook.
Monday’s Picture of the Day highlights Region 3664 on the sun, which was responsible for the series of solar flares that slammed into Earth’s magnetic field.
That interaction between solar flares and Earth’s magnetic field is called a geomagnetic storm. What a miracle it is that Earth has that layer of protection, saving us from flares like that.
This storm, in particular, was a G5 (Extreme) according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. It’s a level not reached since October of 2003.
The stronger the geomagnetic storm, the farther south the aurora can be seen. The Kp Index is an indicator of how strong a geomagnetic storm is. With it reaching a Level 9 Friday night, we were able to see the aurora this far south.
In fact, there were some in Florida (reports as far south as Jamaica and the Bahamas, too) that saw this incredible display!
Below is a photo submitted to our sister station, WKMG, in Orlando.
While I readily admit that my knowledge on space weather lags behind that of weather on Earth, it made me think of when I’d first read about the Carrington Event of 1859.
You can read more about that event here.
You can always get specific forecast details for your zone, whether it’s the Roanoke Valley, the Lynchburg area, the New River Valley, Southside or the Highlands anytime at WSLS.com/weather. Know your zone!
In case you missed it, we have other great weather and science content on WSLS.com as well.
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