CALIFORNIA, USA — The sun has been active a lot in the last few days and the impacts will be felt and seen in parts of the Northern Hemisphere over the next few days.
Occasionally the sun — as it undergoes nuclear fusion — will have outbursts or coronal mass ejections. This is a pulse of electromagnetic radiation sometimes directly impacting Earth.
Most go unnoticed with only far northern latitudes seeing the visual impact of the impressive aurora borealis light show of green and pink colors in the sky.
On a very rare occasion, there is a large pulse and the radiation (not harmful to humans) will produce a much larger light show and the aurora can be seen much farther south.
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center monitoring these outbursts for potential radio and electric disruptions, the latest outburst is rated a four out of five on their scale and the aurora will be visible for a much larger area. Disruptions to high-frequency communications like radios, cell phones and GPS could see disruptions during the event.
Can you see the aurora in Northern California tonight?
Geomagnetic flare ups have been observed on the East Coast Friday night causing northern lights to be seen as far south as Georgia and Alabama. Even parts of Tampa, Florida could see a light pink hue in the sky. As the earth rotates, another solar flare of the G5 magnitude would need to be observed for similar results to be seen into Central California.
Current forecasts have the aurora very visible for all Northern states bordering Canada and the light show will be directly overhead for almost all of Canada and Alaska.
For areas south of the main event, it becomes more difficult to see, but not impossible. Sometimes clouds can obscure the aurora or a bright moon. General light pollution from houses and streetlights can also obscure viewing of the event.
For this particular aurora viewing, there will be no clouds and the moon is a tiny crescent moon. The peak of the aurora will also happen in the middle of the night so dark skies will be present as this unfolds. The last time we saw something similar, the peak was during the day in North America and was mostly not visible.
The viewing conditions will be excellent and the event will be strong but there will be challenges seeing it. Light pollution is common in most urban and suburban settings so finding a dark place like a park or rural area will increase your chances.
It still might happen too far to the north for many to see. The final option you might try is to use a camera with a longer exposure. Many modern phones with cameras automatically have a longer shutter to capture images in the dark and make them appear lighter since more light will fall onto the sensor.
If you have access to a tripod and can manually open the shutter longer, this will be your best chance to capture the aurora and it may be visible when the naked eye can't see it.
When is the best time to see the aurora in Northern California?
The best viewing time will be as far north as you can go... looking to the north in a dark area between late Friday and early Saturday morning. Even then you may still need a long exposure on a camera to see the aurora. If everything lines up, it may be possible under ideal conditions to see a faint greenish-pink hue of the aurora close to the horizon to the north.
For more Weather coverage, stream ABC10+ on your TV for free:
► Roku - click here
► Amazon Fire - click here
► Apple TV - click here
Watch more on ABC10 | Northern California Weather | Prepare for the heat to arrive this weekend
