Potential for a Major Aurora Tonight

 There has been a significant solar storm, and particles have reached the Earth's orbit.

Several individuals in the Pacific Northwest have already seen auroral displays, such as my colleagues at the National Weather Service forecast office at Sand Point (see below)

The critical Kp index is now 8.5 (see below), which is normally a guarantee of a decent aurora for our region--if there are no clouds.

In fact, the NOAA Space Weather Center's Aurora forecast brings the  aurora action into Washington State (see below).

But this is a problem....clouds.   

 As shown by the latest satellite image, a substantial band (red arrow) is moving north from Oregon.   A broken band is moving into western Washington now (purple arrow), but may clear the central Sound between 9 and 10 PM.  Eastern Washington is good right now...bet some of you are seeing it.