How to see the northern lights in Colorado over the next few nights
May 10, 2024, 4:30 PM | Updated: May 13, 2024, 1:44 pm
I always used to think you had to go to Iceland or Alaska to see the northern lights, but every now and then you can actually see them as far south as Colorado. The next few nights happen to be some of those chances.
The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center issued a G4 severe geomagnetic storm watch for Friday through Sunday, May 10 through 12, the first time an advisory of that magnitude has been issued since January 2005.
“This is an unusual event,” the Space Weather Prediction Center said in its advisory, adding the phenomenon causes atoms in the upper atmosphere to glow green and gray.
Northern Colorado is on the edge of the area that is likely to see a visible aurora borealis on the horizon. But it was hard to predict, and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of color normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues.
Whether parts of northern Colorado could see the northern lights depends on if clouds clear to create clear skies. The best potential to spot the aurora borealis is further north and east in the state.
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