PHOTOS: Aurora visible in Mid-South skies

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The National Weather Service in Memphis says the northern lights are visible in the Mid-South as of 8 p.m. Thursday.

“8:00 PM update … The auroras are currently visible in the Mid-South,” NWS wrote on X. They say it looks like a faint stripe of pink above the tree line

To take photos, NWS recommends using a long exposure of 5 to 10 seconds on night mode on your phone.

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Earlier this week, a massive solar flare was detected on the Sun, followed by a fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME) directed toward Earth.

The flare sparked solar radiation storm conditions on Wednesday, posing a risk to satellites, communication signals and GPS systems. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) also issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for the CME.

But it also created a chance to see the northern lights, which are caused by solar storms interacting with our atmosphere.

Current forecasting shows those in northern parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, as well as most of North Dakota, may have the best chance at seeing the aurora on Thursday. Those in the southern portions of those states, as well as Oregon, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa and Maine, have a low likelihood.

NWS-Memphis noted that the area was too far south to be included in the aurora forecast, but we also were not included in May, when the aurora was visible as far south as the Gulf Coast.

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