Northern lights could be seen in Pittsburgh area this weekend
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The northern lights may be visible in Western Pennsylvania this weekend.
For Friday through Sunday nights, strong geomagnetic storms are predicted by the Space Weather Prediction Center. This means the northern lights or aurora borealis may be viewable as far south as the Midwest and portions of the Northeast U.S.
First Alert Meteorologist Ray Petelin says the Pittsburgh area typically needs to be close to an 8 on the K-index, which measures the magnitude of geomagnetic storms. We'll be around a 7 through the weekend.
If the northern lights are visible in Western Pennsylvania, you should look toward a dark spot on the northern horizon. It's recommended you give your eyes a bit of time to adjust to the darkness.
The northern lights have already graced the Pittsburgh area a couple of times this year. Both the aurora borealis and the Perseid meteor shower were visible one night in August, making for a dazzling celestial show. Green, purple, red and pink hues were also visible in Western Pennsylvania skies back in May.
Tips for photographing the northern lights
To photograph the northern lights, travel away from city lights to a dark or rural area and gain a good view of the northern horizon.
If you are using a professional camera, Adobe recommends first switching to manual mode. Then set your focus to infinity to focus on the farthest possible point. Next set your aperture to the lowest possible setting as this helps your camera focus on the sky and northern lights, not the surrounding environment.
You will also want to use a low shutter speed (~20 seconds) to allow your camera to capture a slow-moving aurora. If it is faster, then your shutter speed can be raised. Raise the ISO on your camera to at least 800 if the aurora is fairly bright, otherwise, if it is dim, raise your ISO to 2000. Adobe also recommends testing the shot with automatic white balance.
First Alert Meteorologist Ray Petelin used similar settings back in May and captured the photo below.
If you don't have all the fancy camera equipment, you can also attempt to photograph the northern lights with your smartphone camera in night mode.
What causes the northern lights?
When a geomagnetic storm occurs, solar wind is sent toward Earth. Charged protons and electrons follow Earth's magnetic field and enter the Earth where the magnetic fields are the weakest: the poles. The electrons smash into all the different molecules that make up our atmosphere, creating a dazzling display of colors in the sky.
It's rare for the northern lights to be seen so clearly this far south. Most of the time, we're lucky if it even happens once a year.
