With a dream Aurora forecast for the rest of the week all Northern Lights enthusiasts are in luck. Tonight is looking spectacular, with powerful Aurora activity coupled with clear skies over most all of South, South-West and West Iceland. Thursday and Friday also look very promising, with mostly clear skies and an active Aurora.
Geomagnetic Storm Watch in effect
The Icelandic Meteorological Office is predicting a level 7 or strong Aurora activity over Iceland tonight. The cause of this activity is a G3 level geomagnetic storm which is the result of a powerful coronal mass ejection of the sun.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued a Strong Geomagnetic Storm Watch for today and tomorrow. The powerful aurora can be seen as far south as Scotland and Southern Scandinavia in Europe and parts of New England and the upper Midwest in North America.
The effects of this storm are expected to be most intense today, continuing into tomorrow. The IMO is expecting a level 4 Active Aurora activity on Thursday and Friday. The IMO explains that grade 2 (low activity) can be beautiful and grade 3 (moderate) can be dazzling. Anything above 3 has the potential of being truly spectacular.
Last storm of this magnitude was in May
Coronal Mass Ejections are violent events where the sun ejects a part of its superheated outer atmosphere into space. The high-energy plasma is added to the solar wind. It takes the Coronal Mass Ejection several days to reach the earth, but when it does the charged particles are caught in the Earth's magnetic field which pulls them down into the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere near the poles. Interactions between these particles and the particles in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. These interactions release energy which can be seen as as visible light.
Read more: Learn all about the Aurora on this new interactive website
Thanks to the Coronal Mass Ejection we now have a better chance of witnessing unusually powerful Northern Lights. The last time a magnetic storm of this magnitude washed over the earth was in May. The sun's magnetic activity follows a 11-year cycle, where activity of this magnitude can be expected on average for 100 days, or in one out of every 40 days.
Clear skies
But while we can expect powerful magnetic storms to hit once every 40 days we also need clear skies and night to actually see the aurora. During the summer the sun does not set in Iceland, which means you can only see the Northern Lights after the days get shorter. The typical fall weather of rain and overcast skies means that Aurora lovers in Iceland often have to wait until winter for good Northern Lights displays.
Read more: Beautiful short film commemorating a week of fantastic northern lights
Tonight the IMO is forecasting mostly clear skies over much of West Iceland and all of South Iceland on Wednesday evening. The best chance to see the Northern Lights in South West Iceland tonight will be after 23:00 when the skies clear.
According to IMO it will be dark from 21:16 (9:16 pm) to 5:37 (5:37 am). Sunset is at 20:25 (8:25 pm).
With a dream Aurora forecast for the rest of the week all Northern Lights enthusiasts are in luck. Tonight is looking spectacular, with powerful Aurora activity coupled with clear skies over most all of South, South-West and West Iceland. Thursday and Friday also look very promising, with mostly clear skies and an active Aurora.
Geomagnetic Storm Watch in effect
The Icelandic Meteorological Office is predicting a level 7 or strong Aurora activity over Iceland tonight. The cause of this activity is a G3 level geomagnetic storm which is the result of a powerful coronal mass ejection of the sun.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued a Strong Geomagnetic Storm Watch for today and tomorrow. The powerful aurora can be seen as far south as Scotland and Southern Scandinavia in Europe and parts of New England and the upper Midwest in North America.
The effects of this storm are expected to be most intense today, continuing into tomorrow. The IMO is expecting a level 4 Active Aurora activity on Thursday and Friday. The IMO explains that grade 2 (low activity) can be beautiful and grade 3 (moderate) can be dazzling. Anything above 3 has the potential of being truly spectacular.
Last storm of this magnitude was in May
Coronal Mass Ejections are violent events where the sun ejects a part of its superheated outer atmosphere into space. The high-energy plasma is added to the solar wind. It takes the Coronal Mass Ejection several days to reach the earth, but when it does the charged particles are caught in the Earth's magnetic field which pulls them down into the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere near the poles. Interactions between these particles and the particles in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. These interactions release energy which can be seen as as visible light.
Read more: Learn all about the Aurora on this new interactive website
Thanks to the Coronal Mass Ejection we now have a better chance of witnessing unusually powerful Northern Lights. The last time a magnetic storm of this magnitude washed over the earth was in May. The sun's magnetic activity follows a 11-year cycle, where activity of this magnitude can be expected on average for 100 days, or in one out of every 40 days.
Clear skies
But while we can expect powerful magnetic storms to hit once every 40 days we also need clear skies and night to actually see the aurora. During the summer the sun does not set in Iceland, which means you can only see the Northern Lights after the days get shorter. The typical fall weather of rain and overcast skies means that Aurora lovers in Iceland often have to wait until winter for good Northern Lights displays.
Read more: Beautiful short film commemorating a week of fantastic northern lights
Tonight the IMO is forecasting mostly clear skies over much of West Iceland and all of South Iceland on Wednesday evening. The best chance to see the Northern Lights in South West Iceland tonight will be after 23:00 when the skies clear.
According to IMO it will be dark from 21:16 (9:16 pm) to 5:37 (5:37 am). Sunset is at 20:25 (8:25 pm).
