UPDATES: Good to Great Chances of Aurora Sat and Sun in Washington, Oregon Into South Coast

Update 06/01/25 at 1:55 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Portland, Oregon) - UPDATE: SEE LATEST INFORMATION FOR SUNDAY NIGHT Aurora Borealis Tonight: Timing, Display Strength for Oregon, Washington, Coastal Regions - Through 2 a.m. likely best, but some lights possible through dawn June 1 - 2

WPC has now issued: "G4 (Severe) geomagnetic storm watch is now in effect for 1 and 2 June." Timing for mid latitude remains about the same - greatest impact Sunday night through early Monday morning. See other updates at the Aurora Borealis section of Oregon Coast Weather

A major geomagnetic storm is headed for Earth and the chances for seeing the Aurora Borealis / northern lights is quite good throughout Oregon, but absolutely stellar for Washington. This rather strong storm is not far behind the biggies of 2024 – but it doesn't mean that's guaranteed. (Above: Aurora in Bandon courtesy Manuela Durson - Manuela Durson Fine Arts)

We're looking at a Kp index of 4 tonight and close to Kp 7 on Sunday overnight, which could seriously crank the dial.

In fact, the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Denver, Colorado said this one could be at least photographable if not visible down through the south Oregon coast and beyond.

“Aurora may be seen as low as Alabama and northern California,” SWPC said.

Timing – as always – is a bit hard to pin down, but the brightest showing should be early evening hours of Sunday night into the morning hours of Monday through dawn. Start looking after the sun has completely faded from the sky, likely close to 10 p.m.

Tonight, it will show up rather dimly – if it does at all – but will be great for those with cameras that are geared up for astrophotography.

Heceta Head near Florence and the lighthouse with aurora behind - Jacklyn Larsen Photography.

“The G4 (Severe) geomagnetic storm watch is now in effect for 1 and 2 June,” the SWPC said. “A powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the Sun the evening of 30 May. Confidence in an Earth-directed component is good, but the CME arrival timing is more uncertain due to the current state of the solar wind. It could arrive as early as late morning EDT, to as late as Sunday evening EDT of 1 June. The center of the bulk CME material is anticipated to be just north of Earth, however, Earth will still likely undergo passage of much of the CME material. Arrival will likely lead to immediate geomagnetic disturbances with the potential for G4. Conditions will likely intensify as CME progression continues and G4 levels remain possible on Monday, 2 June. Geomagnetic storm levels will likely begin subsiding by Tuesday, 3 June, with G1-G2 (Minor-Moderate) still possible.”

According to the SWPC, the strongest points of the geomagnetic storm end a bit before 9 p.m. on Sunday night with a Kp Index of 7.67 – a G4 storm. The really prominent aurora events in 2024 were a tad higher than this or at that Kp level.

It stays high at Kp 7 to 6.3 through the early morning hours of Monday, June 2.

Tonight, the Kp Index makes it to 4, which is only a G1 storm but likely strong enough to snap good photos.

- Washington Coast Weather - Oregon Coast Weather  - Inland Oregon Weather - Note: the two Oregon weather pages feature up-to-date aurora predictions

A glance at weather around Oregon and Washington shows largely good prospects tonight but waning in some areas tomorrow night. Portland, Salem and other inland cities of northwest Oregon are showing fairly clear skies tonight and Sunday night. The north Oregon coast – such as Manzanita and Seaside – will see partly cloudy skies both nights.

The southern Oregon coast – from Reedsport down through Brookings - stays remarkably clear at night for both tonight and Sunday.

Also very worth catching now: Bright and Active Arietids Meteors May Hit Pre-Dawn Hours of Oregon, Washington, Coastline Skies - Look to east hour before sunrise and you may catch a show

However, the farther north you go into the Washington coast, it's showing more clouds on both nights, so Westport and Long Beach may have a difficult time.

In southern and eastern Oregon, the forecast says super clear nights from Medford up through at least Eugene and the John Day area.

For much of inland Washington State, conditions look fairly to very clear over the next couple of nights for Seattle, Olympia and Yakima. Washington is well within the boundary of higher solar storm numbers so it's going to get quite a display (if everything happens as predicted).

The Arietids showers are happening right now near dawn as well - along with more satellites visible than usual. This occurs every spring / early summer because of the tilt of the Earth, lighting up satellites more brightly. You may see some that for a time are as bright as regular aircraft. Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff caught just that along with two major meteor streaks on Friday near dawn.

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