Auroras may be on display tonight in parts of Canada, but where?
A geomagnetic storm will hit Earth Tuesday evening with a decent viewing of the auroras including in parts of Canada
Get ready for another display of the aurora borealis on Tuesday night.
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), a G3-magnitude (strong) storm is possible in the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday morning.
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The burst of higher G3 conditions will be temporary. There will be periods of G2-intensity before and after peak, with the visibility of the storm starting on Tuesday evening. NOAA's SWPC has issued a geomagnetic storm watch (G3) as a result.
Generally, G3 these conditions occur approximately 15 days out of the year, with events being more frequent during solar-maximum years.
That strength gives a fair amount of Canadians a shot at spotting them. While the timing favours visible auroras all across Canada, active weather and cloud cover may get in the way.
The northern lights can be highly variable and sporadic as the charged particles interact with Earth’s magnetic field and the upper atmosphere.
The disruption to Earth’s magnetic field is caused by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) off the sun's surface, which contain charged particles that move at thousands of kilometres per second toward our planet.
For a brief, intense time on Tuesday night, the event may reach a 7 on the K-index, which ranges from 0 to 9 and features higher numbers correlating to conditions that may allow auroras to dip farther south in latitude.
The SPWC says the auroras might be visible as south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon.
Who will have the best chance of seeing the northern lights?
There will be multiple factors in Canada for a possible aurora show, but if it comes to fruition will depend on where you are in the country.
The best viewing chances will be in Western Canada, on the Prairies, where abundant clear skies are expected overnight.
Meanwhile, nearly all of Eastern Canada may have to sit this one out.
Two large lows are present in the region, with one over the Great Lakes that is helping to fuel ongoing snow squalls, and another over Atlantic Canada that will be rather impactful for Newfoundland and will likely obstruct views of the night sky.
No major disruptions to satellite and communication systems or power grids are expected, but it could lead to some issues, which are mitigable, including more frequent and longer periods of degradation of global positioning system (GPS) degradation.
WATCH: Can you see the northern lights better through a camera?
Thumbnail courtesy of Amy Alguire/Facebook, taken in Lansdowne, Ont.
With files from Nathan Howes, a digital journalist at The Weather Network, and Rachel Modestino and Tyler Hamilton, meteorologists at The Weather Network.