The northern lights will color Colorado skies once again tonight, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Last week’s burst of geomagnetic storms was just a sampling of the ones expected to reach Earth tonight, meaning the lights will be more vibrant and easier to see — especially if you know where to look.
The NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center a severe, G4 geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday — the second strongest storm level on the scale.
Space weather officials said a G4-level coronal mass ejection “erupted from the Sun” Tuesday evening and is expected to arrive at Earth on Thursday.
G4 storms are rare, according to space weather officials. When abnormally strong geomagnetic storms occur, bright northern lights will be visible at unusually low latitudes. The aurora borealis has been seen as low as Alabama and northern California during severe, G4 storms in the past.
The fastest coronal mass ejections can reach Earth from the Sun in 15 to 18 hours, and slower ejections can take several days to arrive, NOAA officials said.
When the ejections hit the earth, they create geomagnetic storms that threaten power grids and voltage control, disrupt satellite services and low-frequency radio navigation systems and cause issues for spacecraft operations, weather officials said. They also create the aurora borealis.
Maps released by the NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center show the northern lights’ projected reach Thursday night, with northern Colorado making the cut for at least weak visibility.
Coloradans who want a better chance at seeing tonight’s light show will want to drive to the Wyoming border and find a spot with minimal light pollution. The drive from Denver usually takes less than two hours.
While the lights will be more visible and vibrant in the northern part of the state, Coloradans to the south can use their phones to boost the view. A phone’s camera can pick up the light’s wavelengths better than the human eye.
Thursday night will be partly cloudy in Denver, according to National Weather Service forecasters. Up north, near the Colorado-Wyoming border, smoke and clouds are expected to move out in the evening as winds pick up, leaving mostly clear skies to see the northern lights.
Single-day, next-day and hour-by-hour forecasts for the northern lights are available online via the NOAA.
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