SEATTLE — A solar storm is sending super-charged particles toward Earth, potentially resulting in the northern lights visible south of the Canadian border.
The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) predicts the lights could be visible as far as southern Washington; however, that’s only if the weather cooperates.
Unfortunately, forecasts predict that most of Washington state will be under cloud cover when the geomagnetic storm is predicted to hit Earth’s atmosphere on Thursday night.
Thursday began clear and sunny, but clouds are expected to increase into the evening, according to the We Weather Team. There are chances for a few showers that will linger into Friday, and cloud cover is expected to remain through the weekend.
A coronal mass ejection (CME) left the surface of the sun sometime between Oct. 11 and 13, and is expected to hit Earth’s atmosphere Thursday night into Friday morning. That’s what creates the northern lights.
CMEs are a type of geomagnetic storm that sends “tons” of solar material off into space, carrying a strong localized magnetic field with it, according to Shawn Dahl, who is a service coordinator for the SWPC. The storm carries electrically charged particles that collide with the earth’s magnetosphere and glow different colors when they shed energy, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.
트위터 공유: 오늘 밤 워싱턴에서는 북쪽 조명이 구름에 가려질 가능성이 높습니다