Strong solar storm could bring northern lights to western Washington this weekend

WASHINGTON STATE — The Space Weather Prediction Center at NOAA has issued a G3 Geomagnetic Storm Watch through Sunday.

The G3 designation means a strong storm is expected. This is because a pair of coronal mass ejections will hit Earth’s upper atmosphere on Saturday and Sunday.

While you may see some aurora displays both Saturday and Sunday night, the level of northern lights activity we saw earlier in the year is not forecasted.

VIEWER PHOTOS | Northern lights dance across western Washington

This space storm is strong enough though to make the Aurora Borealis visible as far south as Oregon according to government forecasters. With a forecast of clear skies at times, do keep an eye on the north during the overnight hours.

According to NOAA, the best aurora viewing is usually between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. The hours of active aurora expand towards evening and morning as the level of geomagnetic activity increases according to space scientists.

We are told the best seasons for seeing any aurora activity are around the spring and fall equinoxes, according to NOAA. Which is good and new since we just passed the fall equinox. This is because of the way the solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetosphere, according to NOAA’s space weather website.