After Solar Flare, Chances of Aurora Borealis in Washington, Oregon, Coastlines

Published 9/10/24 at 6:55 a.m.
By Andre' GW Hagestedt, Oregon Coast Beach Connection

(Oregon Coast) – There is a bit of a chance the Pacific Northwest could get a little aurora borealis action late tonight (Tuesday), although chances are better from Idaho eastward. Northern lights may – and it's a small chance – appear in and around Oregon, Washington and its coastlines. (Photo courtesy Newport Parks and Recreation: the northern lights in Newport in May)

There is a G2 geomagnetic storm watch in effect from the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Colorado, the organization under National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that looks at coronal mass ejections (CME) from the sun. SWPC said the sun fired off another shot on September 8 and that is likely showing up right about now (in the wee hours of Pacific time).

If it appears, this is too weak to be seen by the naked eye - so if you've got the right camera equipment that's the way to look at the skies.

“CME influences from a filament eruption that occurred early on 8 Sep should arrive by midday on 10 Sep (UTC) and will likely cause moderate geomagnetic storming effects,” the center said on social. “Any geomagnetic storming effects that linger into 11 Sep (UTC) will likely taper off into minor storming levels.”

UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time and is about 8 hours ahead of the Pacific states.

You'll want to continually check https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/forecast-discussion for evolving forecasts and analysis of this event, if you're in a clear area along the Oregon coast, Washington coast, or outside of cities such as Ashland, Eugene, Portland, or Seattle.

However, rain is predicted for tonight in much of Oregon.

See Washington Coast Weather - Oregon Coast Weather (also see all Oregon weather alerts at that link)

In recent months since the big May event, at least three G2 or higher solar storm predictions were made. Some of these did not appear promising, yet some really panned out. There was another run of northern lights captures in early August but also on August 31. Photos from the Washington coast and northern parts of that state were incredible, including Port Angeles.

“Elevated activity is likely to persist into 11 Sep, keeping G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm conditions likely throughout the first half of the day,” the SWPC said. “Quiet to unsettled levels are likely on 12 Sep.”

Greater chances – as usual – appear to be farther north, such as Westport, La Push or Bellingham. Experts up north are touting a possibly excellent show.

The sun is going through a long cycle of major, elevated CME activity. This has resulted in the amazing shots captured everywhere from Bandon, Yachats, Lincoln City to Bend and Portland back in May. Another big rush of amazing photos came on August 12. This will likely not be the last time the region sees this. Extraordinary Aurora Borealis Photos Caught Around Oregon, Even South Coast

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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