Northern Lights may shine this weekend due to speedy solar wind
An immense coronal hole has turned our way, bringing with it the potential to see the Aurora Borealis across parts of Canada.
Check your weekend forecast for clear skies! Parts of Canada could see the Northern Lights due to a fast stream of the solar wind sweeping past our planet.
Space weather has been very active around Earth today, Friday, June 13. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has been reporting minor to moderate geomagnetic storms throughout the day, due to high-energy particles from the Sun streaming by in space.
While SWPC forecasters are expecting this activity to quiet down for tonight, they have issued a G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm watch for the evening hours on Saturday, June 14.
The Canadian Space Weather Forecast Centre has also reported these stormy conditions throughout the day. Their current six-hour forecast, as of Friday afternoon, is calling for 'active' geomagnetic conditions for the remainder of the day. This could result in auroras across the central or northern Prairies. Regions farther south may see the Northern Lights, however they would either be faint or short-lived.
CSWFC's 24-hour forecast is showing 'stormy' conditions across the central part of Canada, while areas to the south, including all of southern Canada, could see some stormy periods Saturday night. 'Stormy' conditions are the equivalent of between G1-G3 geomagnetic storm levels on NOAA's scale.
If the geomagnetic storm occurs as forecast, the timing of the G2 storm would likely favour eastern Canada, while auroras could shine across the central prairies overnight under G1 storm conditions.
READ MORE: Geomagnetic storms — When should we look up and when should we worry?
What's happening here?
Over the past few days, an immense, dark coronal hole has been rotating into view on the Sun. Emitted from this gap in the Sun's atmosphere is a stream of high energy particles that is cutting through the normally sedate flow of the solar wind.
The immense coronal hole visible in the Sun's southern hemisphere, on Friday, June 13, 2025. This gap in the Sun's atmosphere is so large that it stretches across roughly two-thirds of the Sun's disk, and yet the trailing end of the hole is still not seen. (NASA/SDO)
As this 'coronal hole high speed stream' began sweeping past Earth, early on Friday, it caused a disturbance in Earth's geomagnetic field.
Although the solar wind constantly flows past us, most of the particles are diverted around the planet due to Earth's magnetic field pushing them away. The effect is similar to what happens when the "like" ends of two bar magnetics are pushed together (+ + or - -).
However, with the particles in this fast solar wind stream, the opposite is occurring. They are attracted to Earth's geomagnetic field, and as a result, the magnetic field is shifting, fluctuating, and reconnecting. This activity, collectively, is known as a geomagnetic storm.
This graph shows the space weather conditions detected by the ACE and DSCOVR satellites at Lagrange Point 1, 1.5 million kms out into space. The region of the graph boxed in red shows when this coronal hole high speed stream began influencing Earth. The red graph line within the box shows how the magnetic field in the stream is opposite Earth's geomagnetic field. Highlighted in purple, this indicates when increased geomagnetic storm levels would be expected. (NOAA SWPC)
As the particles are drawn in, they get caught up in the field, and are funnelled down into the atmosphere near the north and south poles. There, they collide with oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere, passing on some of their energy. Those atoms and molecules then release the energy as flashes of light, producing the Northern Lights, aka the Aurora Borealis. Similar reactions around the south pole result in the Southern Lights or Aurora Australis.
In general, the more particles that flow past us and the greater the amount of energy carried by them, the stronger the geomagnetic storm, and the brighter and more wide-spread the aurora displays will be in our skies.
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