Northern Lights in New York tonight: Best viewing times, tips for seeing aurora borealis

NEW YORK CITY – Parts of the northern United States, including New York, may be in danger. Northern Lights Tonight’s spectacle took place after a powerful solar flare sent charged particles from the Sun towards Earth.

TONIGHT NYC NORTHERN LIGHTS: WHEN WILL IT BE INVESTIGATED?

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) Another strong X-ray flare occurred on Saturday, originating near sunspot regions known as 3872 and 3873, he said. This marks the second X-class flare since Thursday, when an X3.3 flare occurred from another part of the Sun.

On Sunday, SWPC issued a Geomagnetic Storm Watch after satellites detected coronal mass ejection particles heading towards Earth. This was upgraded to a Geomagnetic Storm Warning on Monday morning.

SWPC rates solar storms on a five-level scale; five are the most extreme and rare space weather conditions. A moderate intensity, level 2 out of 5, geomagnetic storm is possible on Monday.

Who can see the Northern Lights?

Moderate geomagnetic storms are common and will likely not produce anything like what we saw earlier this month when a severe storm produced the Northern Lights as far south as the mid-Atlantic.

However, if weather conditions permit, residents of some parts of the Northeast can see beautiful displays of the Northern Lights.

Aurora viewing forecast for Monday night when a G2 Geomagnetic storm is forecast. (FOX Weather)

The latest Geomagnetic Storm Watch comes after NOAA and NASA announced that the Sun has reached solar maximum, the period of highest sunspot activity in its 11-year cycle. But space weather experts say peak activity is expected to continue into 2025.

NOAA advises those who want to see the Northern Lights to move away from city lights. The best viewing time is usually an hour or two before or after midnight.

What causes the Northern Lights?

The Sun sends more than heat and light to Earth; It sends out energy and charged particles known as the solar wind. But sometimes this solar wind turns into a storm. The Sun’s outer atmosphere sometimes “burps” huge bursts of energy called coronal mass ejections. They produce solar storms, also known as geomagnetic storms, according to NOAA.

The Earth’s magnetic field protects us from most of it, but particles can enter the Earth’s atmosphere by traveling along magnetic field lines through the north and south poles.

When particles interact with gases in our atmosphere, they can produce blue and violet light from nitrogen and green and red light from oxygen.