Spectacular Auroras can lift us air tonight due to geomagnetic storm: Which states can see the northern lights?

Skywatchers in the US could be a delicacy this week, with the northern lights expected to be visible from different states, as a geomagnetic storm still seizes the earth. Noaa’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a G3 (strong) geomagnetic storm watch for October 2, increasing the chances of seeing the northern lights much further south than usual. Several states in the north of the US are likely to allow the spectacle, weather and light pollution: Alaska Idaho Maine Michigan Minnesota Montana New York North-Dakota North Illinois South Dakota Washington Wisconsin the forecast card of Aurora shared by Noaa for October 2, 2025. Look north, and conditions with minimal light pollution to get a clear view. Some tips for viewers in the hope of catching what a spectacular show can be: – Head far away from city lights, to a place with minimal to no light pollution – find yourself a northward view with a clear horizon, without obstacles – look up to the night sky at midnight until 02:00 Local time – keep your patients: The sun is constantly throwing out a stream of small particles that we call the solar wind from where the earth is protected by its magnetic field. If solar wind particles in the earth’s magnetic field clap after completing the 150 million km journey of the sun, some particles are captured in the field and are drawn to the North and South poles. These trapped particles then slap into atoms and molecules such as oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere, which start to glow to release the extra energy, creating the dancing lights of Auroras. The colors that can be seen in Auroras depend on the ‘excited’ by solar wind particles: oxygen gives up green and red lights, while nitrogen glows blue and purple. How do geomagnetic storms affect auroras? Geomagnetic storms occur when the sun sees great activity, such as a sunflame or a coronal mass ejection, which sends massive and super-fast clouds of solar wind particles. This stronger and faster solar wind essentially means a greater number of particles clashing with the Earth’s atmosphere, making Auroras ‘power’ which makes them much further visible from the poles than is usually.