Prompts winter weather advisories as cold air moves in Friday night

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Heads-up Minnesota. You may be able to catch a glimpse of the northern lights overnight into Tuesday morning. 

A solar flare is sending a pulse of energy toward Earth into early Tuesday. The sun’s energy may interact with Earth’s magnetic field to produce auroras overnight into the predawn hours on Tuesday. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a 

The University of Alaska-Fairbanks forecast 

 in the 5 to 6 range overnight into Tuesday. If that is verified, it could produce “highly active” auroras as far south as the Twin Cities area. 

Keep in mind that aurora forecasts can be difficult because it’s hard to gauge just how directly the energy stream will impact Earth’s magnetosphere. It’s also hard to see the auroras with significant light pollution around large cities like the Twin Cities area. 

A few clouds will stream across parts of Minnesota overnight, but many areas will see several hours of clear skies. Here’s the low-level cloud output from midnight from NOAA’s NAM 3 km resolution forecast model. 

The best viewing chances will be away from city lights with a dark northern horizon. Areas north and west of the Twin Cities will have the best odds of getting a good aurora show overnight into early Tuesday morning. 

 has a nice aurora gallery to track photos from places that are getting good aurora shows. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

A University of Alaska-Fairbanks forecast indicates “highly active” auroras may be visible as far south as the Twin Cities area into early Tuesday morning. NOAA has issued a geomagnetic storm watch. 

Northern lights could put on a show overnight

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