OT The Northern Lights

[George Zipp]

It’s mostly off-season and we are waiting for the finals so I thought I’d throw the board a PSA.

I’m a night sky enthusiast (geek). Normally in the Continental US we don’t get much opportunity to see the lights unless we are in the U P of MI, northern Minny, places like that.

Tonight and tomorrow night should present rare chances to see the lights. Last year on May 10 and Oct 11 the lights were visible in STL to the naked eye. The May 10 storm was a 50 yr event where they could be seen in most states. The forecast for tonight and tomorrow night is just as good as May 10 of last year. Doesn’t mean it will happen but it looks good. So anyone in STL north, NE or NW if interested check the sky after sunset. Might be anywhere from Northern horizon to overhead.

If you are interested there are apps that can give you good forecasts for your location. I use the space weather live app and the My Aurora Forecast and alerts app.

Couple of caveats. The less ambient city light the better. The haze from the smoke from the Canadian wildfires might cause visibility issues. And if it’s cloudy or storming you are SOL.

[Blues Dave]

I'm interested in stuff like that, thanks for the heads up George Zipp. I really wanted to see Halley's Comet but that didn't work out. Maybe we'll get a look at the lights though.

[sdaltons]

Good stuff, thanks. I tried to see them the last couple times but I get a lot of light pollution in my area. Imagine it'll be the same tonight but I'm definitely going to try!