Will northern lights be visible from the U.S. this weekend? See aurora borealis livestreams

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12 hours ago

The northern lights have been visible in some northern U.S. states this week, and will continue to be visible in Alaska through the weekend.
It might sound crazy, but they have been visible from Florida before as well. The most recent sighting of the aurora borealis in Florida was actually last summer.
But based on this weekend's aurora borealis prediction, Floridians will have to access a northern lights livestream on YouTube to get a glimpse of the phenomenon.
Here's where the northern lights are predicted to be visible this weekend, tips for viewing them, the last time aurora borealis were seen in Florida and how to find northern lights livestreams.
During the week, the northern lights could be seen from as many as 14 U.S. states near Canada. There could still be chances to spot the lights from the U.S. this weekend, but the probability of seeing the aurora borealis from any U.S. state outside of Alaska is still low.
'Fast solar wind from a coronal hole is currently sweeping past Earth, bringing a continued chance of possible G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm conditions through Friday night (June 27). That means auroras could make a brief appearance at high latitudes,' Space.com's Friday forecast says.
'If you're in the right place tonight and have clear, dark skies, it's worth keeping an eye on the horizon — the auroras might still make a fleeting appearance.'
So, where is the right place? NOAA's weekend forecast map shows Alaska well within the range of viewing this weekend and the northernmost parts of some states reaching slightly into the view line on the night of Friday, June 27.
The three states that appear to have the best chance of catching a glimpse, based on NOAA's prediction map for Friday, are Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota.
If you're visiting or flying over one of these states this weekend, it's worth trying to find the aurora borealis in the night sky. If you're anywhere else in the U.S., your best shot is to pull up a livestream of the northern lights.
NOAA tracks the northern lights and indicates how visible they are predicted to be by using the Kp-index, a global measure of auroral activity. The index is a 0-9 scale and measures changes in the Earth's magnetic field, to predict geomagnetic storms on the sun's surface, which can cause a disturbance in the Earth's atmosphere.
NOAA predicts that the Kp index will peak at 3.67 this weekend, the weekend of Friday, June 27. Earlier this week, when more than a dozen states had a chance to see the aurora borealis, the Kp was predicted to peak at around 5.
More on northern lights in the U.S.: See which states saw the aurora borealis this week
If do you find yourself in the northernmost portions of a state that borders Canada, or in Alaska this weekend, there are ways to increase your chances of spotting auroras.
Here are some tips for spotting northern lights, :
Be aware of geomagnetic activity: If the geomagnetic field is active, then the aurora will be brighter and further from the poles. Geomagnetic activity is driven by solar activity and solar coronal holes and thus it waxes and wanes with time.
For Kp in the range of 3 to 5: the aurora will move further from the poles, it will become brighter and there will be more auroral activity (motion and formations). If you are in the right place, these aurora can be quite pleasing to look at.
Location: Find a place where you can see to the north. Given the right vantage point, say for example on top of a hill in the northern hemisphere with an unobstructed view toward the north, a person can see aurora even when it is 1000 km (600 miles) further north.
Note: If you are in the right place under the aurora, you can see very nice auroral displays even with low geomagnetic activity (Kp = 3 or 4).
It must be dark: Go out at night. Get away from city lights. The full moon will also diminish the apparent brightness of the aurora (not the actual brightness). One caveat that people often neglect to think of is that the high latitudes where aurora occur are also latitudes where it doesn't get dark in the summer. So combining a summer vacation to the arctic with aurora watching usually doesn't work. The aurora may still be there, but it is only visible when it is dark.
Timing: Best aurora is usually within an hour or two of midnight (between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time). These hours of active aurora expand towards evening and morning as the level of geomagnetic activity increases. There may be aurora in the evening and morning but it is usually not as active and therefore, not as visually appealing.
Best seasons for aurora watching: The best times of year to see the northern lights are around the spring and fall equinoxes. Due to subtleties in the way the solar wind interacts with Earth's magnetosphere, there is a tendency towards larger geomagnetic storms and better auroras to occur near the equinoxes.
Yes! Northern lights, or aurora borealis, have been visible as far south as Florida, most recently in May 2024.
'A spectacular and rare sight was visible across Florida on May 10, 2024,' The Florida Times-Union reported. 'The aurora borealis, or northern lights, left many watchers in awe as pink and purple hues painted the night sky.'
There are three other significant recordings of northern lights being visible in Florida, two in the '80s and once in the 1850s.
In March of 1989, the aurora borealis was visible from Jacksonville, painting the sky with a red glow and streaks of green and white, according to the Florida Times-Union. A few years earlier, in 1981, there were reports of much less impressive northern lights visible as far as south Florida.
And according to NOAA, the Carrington Event of 1859 tinted the sky bright red and green, which may have been the most powerful solar flare on record.
If you have northern lights FOMO (fear of missing out), you don't have to catch a last-minute flight to Alaska to get your fix this weekend.
There are several webcams across the world that livestream the aurora borealis. Links to cameras set up in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Canada and Alaska can all be found on Space.com's aurora borealis webcam landing page.
You can watch the view of the aurora borealis from the University of Alaska Fairbanks on the Explore.org YouTube channel — a network of nature cameras from all over the world.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Northern lights watching from Florida: See aurora borealis livestreams