Fans of the northern lights have already had a busy October. A few different solar flares have caused the aurora borealis to stretch fairly far south for most of the month so far. The climax of the sun's current outburst may be coming tonight as aurora borealis is forecast to reach as far south as Kansas. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says a particularly strong geomagnetic storm started hitting the Earth earlier today, prompting the gorgeous northern lights to stretch pretty far south.
Thursday and Friday's aurora borealis and geomagnetic storm comes courtesy of a rather large solar flare that occurred on Oct. 9. NOAA registered it as an X1.8 flare. X-class solar flares are the highest such tier, resulting in the strongest geomagnetic storms and the best northern lights that nature can produce.
NOAA says that the geomagnetic storm will register as a G4, which is the strongest such storm since a G5-rated storm caused the aurora borealis to light up most of the US for a week back in May 2024. According to NOAA's rating scale, a G4 storm can cause "possible widespread voltage control problems and some protective systems will mistakenly trip out key assets from the grid."
In short, some folks may experience some weird power issues. The storm will also have an effect on space equipment like satellites and may even cause damage.
Where will the northern lights be visible?
According to NOAA, the aurora borealis will be visible as far as Kansas and stretch into the Ohio Valley, the entire state of New York, and the entire state of Oregon. NOAA posted an updated map on X that shows it reaching as far south as northern California and it may reach as far as northern Oklahoma.
The northernmost states in the US, including North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin will undoubtedly have the best view in the continental US but no one's going to have a better view than Canada and Alaska.
On Oct. 11, the line will recede somewhat as the geomagnetic storm weakens. By then, it'll be visible to the northern US, including Washington state, Montana, both Dakotas, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Tips for viewing the northern lights
In general, the usual space-viewing tips apply. You'll get a much better view if you get away from the light pollution in large cities. Folks in the suburbs may be able to see it a little better in the northern parts of the US, but if you're on the fringe, you'll want to get out of town for a bit to get the best view.
A lot of people have had success using their phone cameras to take pictures of the sky, which tends to capture the northern lights better than the human eye does. So, if you're in range and can't see it, point your phone camera at the darkest part of the northern sky and you might be able to capture a good picture of it. You may need to tinker with your camera settings a bit to get the optimum results.