Northern lights could dazzle to start July 4 weekend
Key takeaways
- Forecasters say some may have the chance to see the northern lights on Friday.
- NOAA s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has been watching two major sunspot groups this week.
- [It was a] rather impulsive event, meaning it was fairly quick, it didn t last very long, but clearly a lot of energy there, Dahl explained.
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Forecasters say some may have the chance to see the northern lights on Friday.
NOAA s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has been watching two major sunspot groups this week. One spot sparked a solar flare reaching X1 strength, Shawn Dahl, a service coordinator with the SWPC, said in a Tuesday update. X is the highest classification available for solar flares, but 1 is the weakest level in that tier.
[It was a] rather impulsive event, meaning it was fairly quick, it didn t last very long, but clearly a lot of energy there, Dahl explained. At the time, it wasn t yet clear whether the coronal mass ejection (CME) believed to be associated with the activity was coming toward Earth.