Northern lights expected to dazzle Washington state this week

If you are up at night the next two nights, take a look toward the northern horizon and you might be in for a treat. The Northern lights could be visible in the Tri-Cities this week.

The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center issued an alert for what is called a G3 (Strong) geomagnetic storm watch for March 31.

A series of two explosive jets of solar gases, called coronal mass ejections, happened Monday, March 28.

The second one will overtake the first one and arrive at Earth early evening on Wednesday, March 30. The events are expected to produce effects that are visible through April 1.

The prediction indicates that the Northern lights may be seen as far south as Oregon, within 150 miles of the Canadian border.

The best time to view the auroras is 9 p.m. and midnight, as long as the clouds and fogs don’t interfere with your view of the sky.

The weather forecast for the Pacific Northwest shows a variable sky cover depending on your location. Opportunities will be better east of the Cascades that west of the mountains.

For the best viewing, head up into the hills south of the Tri-Cities, or head north or east of Pasco or Richland or east to get away from the lights of town.

Other than city lights and clouds interfering with the view, the moon will be dark with a new moon on Friday.

The Northern Lights are created when the sun releases a coronal mass ejection, a large quantity of hot gases shoots out from the sun’s surface, like a fireball or flare, and is ejected into space.

The enormous amount of energy enters our atmosphere and interacts with ions, causing them to illuminate.

You can get the latest information on aurora events at the Space Weather Prediction Center https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 11:24 AM.