Northern lights may shine over several states including NY during minor geomagnetic storm

NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Northern lights may be viewed on Wednesday night in some states including New York thanks to a minor geomagnetic storm, according to the NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

The SWPC issued a G2-level geomagnetic storm watch, stating that a coronal mass ejection (CME), an eruption of solar material, is expected to arrive at Earth and increase geomagnetic activity on Wednesday.

The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, are ribbons of light while beautiful is also a rather violent event, according to space.com .

Auroras are created when energetic particles from the sun collide with Earth's upper atmosphere at speeds up to 45 million mph (72 million kph). The sun emits plasma and magnetic material through CMEs, which interact with Earth's magnetic field, directing particles towards the poles. Earth's magnetic field shields us from these particles. These particles interact with atmospheric gases, releasing energy and producing auroras.

The aurora may be visible over some northern and upper Midwest states including Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. A specific time was not provided.

The halo CME, which causes the northern lights, erupted on Sunday, according to the SWPC. This also led to a minor solar radiation storm warning starting Monday night. Solar radiation storms happen when charged particles from the Sun reach Earth in large quantities. Such storms are not unusual so the storm will mainly go unnoticed except for the northern lights.

“They may affect HF communications in polar regions and pose a slight risk to space launches,” the SWPC stated.

Solar activity will continue in the coming months, according to SWPC and some Americans will have the chance to see the northern lights soon.