Aurora Borealis/Australis this evening?
April 13, 2013 3:58 PM   Subscribe

The sun has been active, with a Coronal Mass Ejection on the 11th, which will reach Earth this evening. There's a possibility of the Aurora Borealis further south than is typical, potentially as far south as Boston, for those of us on the East Coast. Check visibility on wunderground or weather.com. via fantabulous timewaster and xetere, thanks.

Forecasters expect the CME from yesterday's solar eruption to pass Earth late (UTC) on April 13, just over a day from now. Its passage will bring G2 (Moderate) Geomagnetic Storm conditions, with the brunt of the disturbance expected to fall over into April 14. No guarantees, except that the weather in Maine is likely to be overcast if the aurora is present, because, hey, karma. recently
posted by Mom (37 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Mom, I asked you never to post here.

SO embarrassing.
posted by nevercalm at 4:11 PM on April 13, 2013 [39 favorites]


Sorry. This is awesome. I'm hating living in NYC, tonight, for sure.
posted by nevercalm at 4:11 PM on April 13, 2013


I'm hoping that as the solar cycle peaks we'll get a few instances of aurora way down south. Doesn't look like this one will be the one, though. Last peak, there were several CMEs that brought fairly intense aurora that were visible in the deep south.
posted by wierdo at 4:12 PM on April 13, 2013


Damn. Would really like to see this but it's fully clouded over here in Calgary and a snowstorm is imminent. Enjoy the show if you can see it.
posted by arcticseal at 4:18 PM on April 13, 2013


Boston's cloud cover and light pollution levels nix this. Damn.
posted by ocschwar at 4:19 PM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


I think Vancouver Island has a big raincloud on top of it, so dang.
posted by sarastro at 4:26 PM on April 13, 2013


The AccuWeather.com Astronomy page on Facebook (SLFB?) has been posting updates on the timing and strength of the aurora, which could be helpful for those with clearer skies.
posted by 1367 at 4:33 PM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Looks like I picked the right night to spend in New Hampshire! Thanks for the post!
posted by Elementary Penguin at 4:35 PM on April 13, 2013


Not quite to Nashville, but I'll eyeball the north sky anyway.
posted by jquinby at 4:35 PM on April 13, 2013


GET IN THE VAN!
posted by vrakatar at 4:44 PM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Aurora borealis, shining down in Dallas - can you picture that?
posted by gingerbeer at 4:55 PM on April 13, 2013 [4 favorites]


Holy shit.

My grandmother, who is 85 and, uh, kinda weird, called me specifically to tell me there's "a magnetic field coming for Earth so be careful outside." And I'm like yeah, sure grandma, thinking it was just crazy nonsense from Russian radio.
posted by griphus at 4:56 PM on April 13, 2013 [8 favorites]


Is it likely that we'll get to see the Aurora Australis? I vaguely recall that we only get to see it in the Australian winter, but I don't know why.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:57 PM on April 13, 2013


You'll want aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk if you live in the U.K.
posted by jeffburdges at 5:01 PM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


I suspect nothing will be visible in Pittsburgh but clouds, but I'm gonna step outside and give the sky a passively-aggressively disapproving, squinty look.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 5:01 PM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


I hate living in a city every time there's a meteor shower or something like this. I've got roof access, but I'm surrounded by light pollution. Bah.
posted by sciencegeek at 5:09 PM on April 13, 2013


gingerbeer: Aurora borealis, shining down in Dallas - can you picture that?

The 'rora at night is big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:14 PM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Sigh. While it might come as far south as Boston, it's not going to make it into the city. I've given up the stars for a wide variety of convenient pizza.
posted by benito.strauss at 5:26 PM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Dammit, you'd think fifty mile an hour winds would get you some clear skies.
posted by gamera at 6:11 PM on April 13, 2013


there's "a magnetic field coming for Earth so be careful outside."

At least have a flashlight handy.
posted by dhartung at 6:21 PM on April 13, 2013


I'm making steamed clams to celebrate.
posted by codacorolla at 6:26 PM on April 13, 2013 [6 favorites]


CME impact at 22:45 UT, unfortunately it doesn't look very promising so far. Look at the Estimated Kp, it needs to get to 8 or 9 for parts south to have a chance to see aurora.
posted by Long Way To Go at 6:32 PM on April 13, 2013


It's raining here. But once, many moons ago, I got a phone call in the dead of night instructing me to get up, get dressed and go outside. A magnetic storm had crashed the power grid and a blood-red aurora was raging overhead. The most extraordinary sky show I ever saw.
posted by Jode at 6:41 PM on April 13, 2013 [5 favorites]


Drove out to a tower in Middlesex Fells near Boston, but the cloud cover was 50% more than the 50% that was predicted :(
posted by Salvor Hardin at 6:48 PM on April 13, 2013


Drove out to a tower in Middlesex Fells near Boston, but the cloud cover was 50% more than the 50% that was predicted :(

So, 75%?
posted by nevercalm at 6:56 PM on April 13, 2013 [5 favorites]


I'm making steamed clams to celebrate.

I wrote a whole response to this, but it sounded unforgivably yuppy... so I couldn't. I was at a point where I looked at the twenty dollar bill in my hand, and realized it had to buy me food for the next three weeks. I once paid for a Chinese buffet in pennies. The person I was then would not look charitably on me now calling out my favorite local fishmonger, and favorite local-source butter and Portuguese sausage maker.

So, I'm going to say this. I made an amazing meal for my wife and my kid, and we ate it out on the deck of our little house in the woods, not far from the sea-shore. We all were outside, and looked for the aurora to the north. We all felt lucky just to be here.

We didn't see the aurora, but we still felt lucky just to be here.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:37 PM on April 13, 2013 [3 favorites]


Looks like the aurora is going pretty far north:

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html

https://twitter.com/GarySzatkowski/status/323252624713469952/photo/1
posted by Freen at 7:56 PM on April 13, 2013


Even when the evenings aren't so shitty
I can't see any stars because I'm too close to the city.
True, I'm looking forward to the advent of space tourism
But for now, I'm merely bored.
And as a matter of fact, who isn't?


The Lucksmiths, "I Prefer The Twentieth Century"
posted by maryr at 7:57 PM on April 13, 2013


I feel better about the cloud cover in Maine.
posted by Mom at 8:40 PM on April 13, 2013


Sadly, a dud here, and now it's clouded over anyway.

I think I mentioned this before, but I saw my first aurora from the roof of Van Allen Hall.
posted by dirigibleman at 9:25 PM on April 13, 2013


Is it likely that we'll get to see the Aurora Australis? I vaguely recall that we only get to see it in the Australian winter, but I don't know why.

Carbon tax
posted by Mario Speedwagon at 9:41 PM on April 13, 2013


Nothing in suburban Chicago. It was a nice sunset, and there were some greens going on that maybe could be aurora related, but nothing obvious.
posted by gjc at 10:37 PM on April 13, 2013


Too cloudy in Central PA to see anything.
posted by dhens at 10:40 PM on April 13, 2013


Just got in from our late night dog walk. It cleared up a bit so we could see a few stars, but no aurora.
posted by gamera at 11:19 PM on April 13, 2013


Raining here but I feel so much better knowing now that I am not missing anything.

As far as city lights go, I have seen aurora twice in Seattle despite the city lights. Full on streaming curtains plus strobe auroras flickering across the stars in arcs.
posted by y2karl at 1:10 AM on April 14, 2013


It's been ages since I've seen the aurora down here in central Indiana. I'd love to get another glimpse. Weather looks iffy, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:28 AM on April 14, 2013


Well! That was unexpected.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 2:41 PM on April 14, 2013


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