CINCINNATI — A rare geomagnetic event is taking shape this weekend to produce auroras (northern lights) in a large portion of the United States. And yes, that includes our sky over Cincinnati.
With all geomagnetic events, a lot of factors have to come together perfectly for the auroras to definitely happen. But several of the ingredients are out there, so skywatchers have been alerted to be ready to look up!
The best chance was Friday night into Saturday morning — and several viewers were able to spot them in Ohio, Indiana and Northern Kentucky.
If clouds obscured your view overnight, there's another chance to see the auroras on Saturday night too.
Here's more about what's going on and the science behind it.
Several CMEs are projected to head toward Earth this weekend. A CME is a coronal mass ejection from the sun. You can read more about them HERE.
According to the models and analysis provided at NOAA, it looks like three CMEs are heading toward Earth this weekend, some merging before they arrive. This merger leads to a stronger event, increasing the chance for auroras.
This energy is set to arrive on Saturday, May 11th. It's projected to be a strong class three, if not a class four event. Class three events normally produce auroras in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana. But a class four storm pushes the aurora line much farther south, potentially as far south as Alabama!
I utilize spaceweather.com for a lot of my aurora alerts and analysis. It's been a reliable source in past events. If and when this solar storm begins, they'll post alerts to the top of their page this weekend so keep THIS LINK handy for more real-time updates.
They also keep the current aurora status on their website — just scroll down and look on the left side. Here is a picture of what it looks like Friday morning:
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