There could be a widespread northern lights event coming to the northern U.S. this weekend.
The University of Alaska - Fairbanks issues a forecast of the Kp level expected in the next few days. They are forecasting a Kp value of 6, and call for high auroral activity.
Northern lights are likely down to the southern edge of the green shaded area. The green line shows how far south northern lights may be seen on September 1. (University of Alaska - Fairbanks)
They say weather permitting, northern lights could be visible overhead as far south as Bay City, Grand Rapids, and Muskegon. They also mention the southern extent of northern lights over Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Toronto.
Well the good news is weather will be permitting. The forecast for northern lights is for September 1. At this point it’s impossible to tell if northern lights would happen on Saturday night or Sunday night.
If you want to see the northern Lights you better start looking Saturday night.
This would be a good weekend to head north. This gives you an even better chance of seeing northern lights.
The other piece of great news is we have a new moon, or in other words no moon. So skies will be dark. This allows great viewing of the northern lights.
That’s all I can say right now. If you want to see northern lights, put yourself in a dark place as far north in Michigan as possible. You’ll have to be there Saturday night and Sunday night, and hope it happens. Northern lights forecasting is still not as accurate as weather forecasting. But we do know the approximate day of arrival of the northern lights.