You Could See The Northern Lights In Eastern Iowa TONIGHT
Who knew that we wouldn't have to travel to see the Northern Lights!?
KCRG reports that "our sun has been very active or stormy lately. These solar storms produce clouds of energy that move out into the solar system. They are called coronal mass ejections. When these solar storm clouds interact with the earth’s magnetic field, the Northern Lights can be seen". As you can see from the graphic below, we're in the viewing area.
This is awesome!...Well if it turns out that we can actually see it. According to the report, the display could be seen as far south central Iowa. This phenomenon is expected to take place overnight tonight into Saturday morning. If you plan on trying to catch a glimpse, get to the darkest location possible with a great view of the northern horizon (it is the NORTHERN lights after all). Here in Iowa, the light display should appear pretty low on the horizon. You may need to give your eyes a bit of time to adjust to the darkness too.
This could be awesome, or could not happen at all. Weather and light pollution in our area will also play a role in our visibility. These things are very hard to predict as there are several factors that play into it. You can stay up to date with the latest predictions here. Fingers crossed we see some dancing lights tonight!