There continues to be a good chance for viewing the Northern Lights tonight. A solar flare on Monday and an even stronger solar flare yesterday sent two coronal mass ejections (CME) towards Earth. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center the first CME should initiate a ‘moderate’ geomagnetic storm sometime this evening. The Northeast Montana weather forecast has mostly to partly cloudy skies this evening, becoming mostly clear after midnight. A 90% waning gibbous moon rises at 8:51 PM and sets after sunrise Friday morning. So the moon will be up tonight with the potential to interfere with viewing. The second CME will initiate a ‘strong’ geomagnetic storm before sunset Friday. The strength of the expected geomagnetic storm could spread aurora south over the mid-latitudes, in other words, south of Canada. The back-to-back CMEs are expected to make the geomagnetic storm last into and through Friday night. However, a weak trough and cold front dropping south from Canada is expected to increase cloud cover as the night progresses. Moonrise will be a bit later at 9:27 PM and the moon will be less gibbous at 82%, thus dimmer. So the best viewing might be in the evening before the clouds spread south over the area.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 19:10:58 +0000
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