Northern Lights May Be Visible Over Illinois Friday

If you enjoy pretty colored lights dancing in the sky, you might get a chance to witness this Friday night as a sudden solar storm could make Northern Lights visible over parts of Illinois.

When it comes to forecasting appearances of the Aurora Borealis, there are so many things that have to go right. The CME from the sun must arrive into the Earth's atmosphere at just the right time and the skies must be clear. According to a report this morning from Forbes, Illinois is among 18 states that might (key word) be able to see the Northern Lights Friday and perhaps Saturday night due to heightened geomagnetic storm levels.

To verify this, I checked the NOAA Aurora Borealis Experimental Dashboard and it does show that the northern part of Illinois could see the Northern Lights on the horizon Friday night.

It's also possible that Saturday night might be another Northern Lights event, but that depends on the factors I've already mentioned. You also need to be aware that an incoming CME from a solar storm is very unpredictable and conditions will likely change. That could mean the Aurora Borealis might be visible much further south or be limited to just the northern states. It's an imperfect space weather forecast process, but you need to know that beautiful lights in the sky Friday night over parts of Illinois are at least possible. Let's hope all the factors come together perfectly.