Nashville, TN – Residents across the Mid-South, including parts of North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Alabama, are in for a rare celestial event as the Northern Lights will be visible Thursday and Friday night. The G4 geomagnetic storm, the strongest since this past spring, will bring the aurora as far south as Alabama.
According to the National Weather Service, the best viewing times will be between 10 p.m. Thursday and 4 a.m. Friday. Clear skies are expected across much of the region, with temperatures dropping to the mid-50s in Tennessee and Kentucky, while Alabama will see lows around 60 degrees, creating ideal conditions for aurora viewing.
This rare geomagnetic storm, caused by solar winds interacting with Earth’s magnetic field, could produce vivid colors in the aurora, including the rarest hue—purple. Purple auroras, which occur when the lights are over 100 km above the Earth, are a sign of intense solar activity.
Friday night will bring another chance to see the Northern Lights, with clear skies forecasted across much of the Mid-South. The event is the most powerful of its kind since May, and viewers are encouraged to seek out dark, rural areas for the best viewing opportunities.
