(WKBW-TV, Buffalo — Here we go again!
The geomagnetic storm that caused some of the nicest displays of Northern Lights in decades continues this weekend.
For Western New York and much of the northern half of the United States, this means the best chance of seeing the famed Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, in years. In fact, the aurora may be seen as far south as Iowa and parts of the Mid-Atlantic
Of course, we need the clouds to cooperate, and at this point, the chances look good that the sky will at least be partially clear on Sunday night.
Per SWPC: STRONG geomagnetic storm WARNING through 2 a.m. EDT. Partial clearing tonight will facilitate a decent view. Get away from light pollution and look north. Fingers crossed, it could be another nice display! #WNY #NorthernLights pic.twitter.com/c0b42WUaC6
— Josh Nichols (@wnywxguy) May 12, 2024
But it also means other POTENTIAL impacts. According to the SWPC, there may also be possible power grid issues. There may also be impacts to satellite navigation systems, like GPS.
So what's causing all of this? The source is a sunspot that sprawls 200,000 km, or 124,274 miles across the sun's surface.
That's 16 times wider than the Earth!
If you still have your solar eclipse glasses, and can get a decent glimpse at the disc of the sun, you can see just how big the sunspot is. It's being compared to a historically large sunspot known as the Carrington Sunspot, mapped manually, in the 1850s.
So, whether it's safely watching this large sunspot by day with your solar glasses, or taking a chance with the night sky to potentially see the aurora borealis this weekend, there's plenty of reasons to keep looking up, and to stay up to date with the latest information about this event!
