More Americans across several states may get a chance to see the aurora this weekend, after the northern lights were visible in some places on the night of May 14. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center said the lights could reappear in the late-night hours of Friday, May 15, into the early morning on Saturday, May 16, and then again later Saturday night into Sunday, May 17.
The best window to look is generally between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., though NOAA said the timing can shift depending on where a viewer is standing and how weather and visibility forecasts change. That makes the weekend forecast a moving target for anyone hoping to catch the sky show, even as the agency's three-day outlook issued Friday afternoon pointed to mild to moderate activity continuing through the weekend.
The forecast carries real weight because the activity is expected to peak at different times across the three days. NOAA said a G2 storm could flare between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET on Friday evening, with a geomagnetic spike forecast around 8 p.m. ET on Saturday. Canada is expected to get the best and most intense viewing this time around, but if the storms reach G2 level, the lights could also be seen farther south than usual.
That is where the uncertainty comes in. Current forecasts suggest the storms are unlikely to reach G3 level, the stronger threshold that would push the auroras much farther south, with possible visibility as far as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Nebraska, Wyoming and California. For now, the outlook sits in the narrower range of G1 to G2 activity, which still leaves a path for stronger displays if the sun's output changes.
The aurora, more commonly known as the northern lights, is a luminous glow seen around the magnetic poles of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It forms when electrically charged particles from the sun collide with gases in Earth's atmosphere, producing flashes that look like moving lights in the sky. For readers tracking the latest weekend outlook, a separate report on Aurora Borealis North America weekend viewing chances offers more detail on where the lights may be visible. This weekend may not produce the kind of nationwide spectacle that G3 activity can bring, but it does offer several timed windows for skywatchers willing to stay up late and look north.
