One of my favorite things to see on social media is when photos of the northern lights are shared, especially when I missed the memo there was going to be an aurora.

This photo from the City of Missoula Police Department via Facebook is the most recent example. I didn't know there would be aurora borealis this week and then this photo popped up on my feed on Tuesday.

Other photos started to appear from places like Glacier National Park and Seeley Lake, and then news outlets started reporting on a G4 geomagnetic storm expected for the end of this week.

What is a G4 Geomagnetic Storm?  

According to the Space Weather Prediction Center at NOAA.gov, a G4 Geomagnetic Storm can have impacts on power systems, spacecraft operations, and other systems, which they describe below:

Induced pipeline currents affect preventive measures, HF radio propagation sporadic, satellite navigation degraded for hours, low-frequency radio navigation disrupted, and aurora has been seen as low as Alabama and northern California (typically 45 degrees geomagnetic lat.).  -swpc.noaa.gov

The Space Weather Prediction Center is predicting a G4 storm currently and in the last 24 hours has observed G3.

The Aurora Dashboard shows what tonight's forecast will be indicating there's a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights in Montana tonight, but with the prediction of a G4 as indicated above, they may be visible much further south than Montana.

NOAA.gov
NOAA.gov
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Back in May, solar storms also led to magnificent displays of northern lights that were seen in Montana. While heading to areas where there isn't much light pollution is usually the best way to see the northern lights, at that time the aurora were strong enough to see in the middle of Missoula.

The weather prediction for tonight includes haze and partly cloudy conditions. But perhaps the solar storm will be strong enough to see the aurora anyway. If you do capture photos of tonight's northern lights share them with us on our app.

Montana Northern Lights Pictures

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