‘Unhealthy’ air quality expected in eastern Minnesota through Monday afternoon due to wildfire smoke

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

It’s another maybe forecast for possible northern lights favoring northern Minnesota overnight. 

Solar storms are sending multiple waves of energy toward the earth. 

These Coronal Mass Ejections CME are hitting earth’s magnetosphere according to 

The G1 to G2 class storms show a predicted Kp-index of 5 on a scale of 0 to 9. That’s typically associated with an auroral oval that runs about as far southward as northern Minnesota. It usually takes a Kp of 7 to create auroras that are visible in southern Minnesota and Iowa. 

So the best chance for seeing any northern lights overnight into Thursday morning favors northern Minnesota. 

Skies will be clear across most of Minnesota overnight. So if northern lights happen, they could be visible away from city lights low on the northern horizon. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued another geomagnetic storm watch.

Another 'maybe' chance for northern lights Wednesday night

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox