Good Chance of Aurora Lights for Oregon, Coast, Portland
Published 11/02/2015 at 7:55 PM PDT
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff
(Oregon Coast) – Look up tonight and tomorrow night, if you live anywhere in North America north of Oregon or Oklahoma. Scientists say a massive geomagnetic storm from the sun is on its way and chances are good to see the Aurora Borealis/Northern Lights as far south as Oregon, Portland and the Oregon coastline. (Above: aurora borealis in the coast range).
The storm is considered strong tonight (Monday night) but lowers to moderate on Tuesday night, according to NOAA.
“The arrival of a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream has been delayed, and may straddle the 02-03 November (UTC) transition,” NOAA said in an announcement.
Such a strong storm may let it be seen by place like New York, North Carolina and Missouri, among others.
Weather will be the key factor in Oregon. Both Portland and the Oregon coast are looking at mostly cloudy skies at night on Monday and Tuesday. Still, periodic breaks are possible if not likely and keeping an eye for those will make spotting these ethereal lights at least a little easier.
What's a bit different about this storm – considered a G3 – is that it comes from a coronal hole. That means a section of the sun with less mass, which shows up as a dark spot in images from telescopes and NASA spacecraft.
On Tuesday night the storm drops to a G2 level.
You'll want to be away from city lights when trying to view these, which will make the Oregon coast prime, if the clouds break up enough. Your chances will increase even more if you're using pro camera equipment and a tripod, as the human eye often cannot see the Northern Lights this far south.
More Oregon coast science. See Oregon Coast Weather. More on the Oregon coast at night below.
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