A spectacular display of colorful glowing auroras will illuminate the night sky over the border of northern Canada and the U.S. this week. On Friday evening, a geomagnetic storm is expected to develop as the magnetic field around the Earth gets forced to deal with an imbalance in its magnetic density between east and west, according to Business Insider. The storm will then continue into the weekend.
Lingering from 2016’s Solar Stormstorm, the geomagnetic storm this week is not expected to be as strong as the one last year that caused power outages across the U.S. and had social media abuzz over its unexpected nature. But it may still be seen as particularly impressive for those living on the edge of the North American continent, in places like North Dakota, Montana, Washington state, Idaho, Wyoming, and Alaska. The auroras are typically only observable when the sun is in an active phase, and although the sun has been the subject of several weeks of solar activity, the storm may not reach its peak before next week.
In southwestern Ontario, the northern lights seen in October this year was extraordinary, taking the skies of the province by storm and generating an aurora after midnight, making it the first time the area had seen auroras at such an extreme. In celebration of its Northern Lights phenomenon this week, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society urges its Canadian visitors to “enjoy the view, look for, and learn about this display while backcountry explorers can support wildlife and wilderness management.”
Read the full story at Business Insider.
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