The Space Weather Prediction Center in the U.S. said that a strong geomagnetic storm watch has been issued Oct. 4-6. There may be northern lights in the sky as a result.
strong geomagnetic stormviewings seen this year. They are due to the sun’s magnetic field, which is at its peak of its 11-year cycle and putting out more solar storms, resulting in more frequent displays of
“Up to now, this peak is exceeding predictions significantly and it hasn’t reached the top yet,” David Knudsen, the head of the University of Calgary’s department of physics and astronomy, told Global News on Thursday.On Tuesday, scientists recorded one of the strongest solar flares of the cycle, considered an X7, which was then outperformed two days later with an X9 on Thursday, the biggest since 2017.
But while there can be concerns for power grids, there is still excitement among sky watchers for what these storms could mean at night.“The next two nights, there’s opportunity expected,” Chris Ratzlaff, an aurora chaser, told Global News on Thursday. “And then over the next probably three or four as this X9, we start to understand what that looks like, it could extend well into the weekend.”
Ratzlaff gave a probability of about 35 per cent that Calgary, for example, will potentially see the northern lights, in particular the afternoon and evening on Friday and early to mid-morning of Saturday.Google tests out check marks to verify search results, several parts of Canada may see the aurora with the highest likelihood stretching across the territories, and from B.C. to Quebec, though parts of southern Ontario may have less luck.
Erica Grow Cei, spokesperson for NOAA, told the Associated Press that there was still the potential for storms to intensify or weaken.Given the activity in the sun, it’s not the first time Canada has had such an opportunity to view the lights. Unusually strong solar storms in May produced spectacular aurora displays across the Northern Hemisphere, but NOAA has said this weekend may be slightly lower in terms of light shows due to fewer ejections of the high energy plasma that drives them.
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