What is the Northern Lights forecast for tonight in Iowa?

Due to the strong solar activity, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a geomagnetic storm warning for Monday through Wednesday. This also brings with it the possibility of auroras being visible in the Midwest.

According to NOAA, solar activity increased throughout the weekend and several events, including solar flares and eruptions, were associated with coronal mass ejections, a large ejection of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s corona.

What is the Northern Lights forecast for Iowa?

If geometric levels get high enough late Monday evening into the early morning hours of Tuesday, the aurora could be visible lower on the horizon over northern Iowa and perhaps even central Iowa, said Shawn Dahl, a space weatherman with NOAA.

If geometric levels get high enough, the aurora could be visible low on the horizon in southern Iowa.

If you’re willing to take a trip, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin are more likely to have more activity, Dahl said. If not, get out of the city lights, under the darkest skies possible.

When are the Northern Lights visible?

Space weather is unpredictable and difficult to predict, according to Space.com. Much of the timing regarding geometric storms is usually a guessing game. Monday and Tuesday evenings into the early morning are your best chance to catch a glimpse.

Typically the best time to see the lights is between 10pm and 2am. Also make sure to avoid city light pollution and seek out darker places.

“The moon will cooperate, as it rises after midnight and is also low in the southern sky,” Dahl said. “Clearing the northern sky for the hour before midnight to a couple of hours after midnight, so that the possible aurora is visible.”

The Des Moines area will have good weather Monday night before thunderstorms develop between 3 and 4 a.m. The NWS says there is a chance of thunderstorms and cloudy skies Tuesday night.

People who want to see the northern lights should use their phones or cameras and take pictures of the north, Dahl said. Because sometimes, even though they are invisible to the naked eye, they can still be picked up with digital imaging technology.

What is the Northern Lights?

According to the forecasting center, the word aurora refers to the light produced when electrons from space, traveling down through Earth’s magnetic field, collide with atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere.

The colorful aurora is created when particles coming from the sun are captured in the Earth’s magnetic field. The particles interact with molecules of atmospheric gases to create the famous glowing green and reddish colors of the aurora.

Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @VictoriaReynaR.