April 20, 2020

Aurora Last Night

Some lucky folks in our region viewed an impressive aurora last night and perhaps a hint of it might be visible tomorrow morning.

Here is a picture provided  by Greg Johnson of Skunk Bay Weather of the aurora at 3:39 AM, looking northward from Kitsap towards Whidbey Island:


Greg also provided a magnificent video of Monday mornings event:


This aurora was associated with a coronal mass ejection (CME) event several days ago, which resulted in a relatively high planetary K index (about five) last night (see plot below).


The simulated distribution of the aurora provided by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, shows the core of the event over southern/central Canada.



What about tonight?

It will certainly be clear enough, but as shown in the figure above, the K-index has dropped considerably.  The latest Space Center forecast is for a decline  of Kp to 3 tonight...which might not lead to a decent aurora show.  Might check their webpage tonight for an update. 


Viewing a good aurora is a life-changing experience.





3 comments:

  1. I was in Everett and saw the aurora.. that was almost 40 years ago, and I haven't seen it since!

    Life changing, like standing under the total solar eclipse in Oregon a few years ago. An extraordinary, unforgettable experience.

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  2. I was out tent camping in my back yard last night, but unfortunately there's a bunch of tall trees to the north, so I didn't see anything. However, I did notice that the stars were gorgeous and very bright last night. The Milky Way was amazing.

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  3. Sigh...thank you for posting the mesmerizing video...a wonderful change of pace.

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