The Northern Lights Could Be Seen Across Minnesota This Weekend
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – There's a chance Minnesotans – and even those near the Twin Cities – could see the northern lights this weekend.
According to predictions from NASA's Space Weather Prediction Center, the aurora could be visible in southern Minnesota overnight Sunday, as a relatively strong geomagnetic storm is expected in the earth's magnetic field in the coming days.
Geomagnetic storms occur when solar winds collide with the earth, creating disturbances in the planet's magnetosphere.
The disturbances are sometimes visible as aurora, or northern lights, as particles in the atmosphere become charged amid the geomagnetic storm.
Of course, to see the aurora in Minnesota, the weather needs to cooperate. Currently, the forecast is calling for partly cloudy skies across the state.
It should also be said that solar wind predictions – and the resulting aurora – are tricky to forecast. The last time the earth saw a low-level geomagnetic storm was in early August.
