Sunday Night Forecast: Aurora and Severe Storms Possible
A moderate to strong geomagnetic storm is predicted for Sunday night, May 7, which could result in a great northern lights show visible as far south as northern Iowa. An app called Windy.com can help identify clear patches of sky for viewing. Spring and fall are the best times to see the northern lights due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, which creates unique clouds that accelerate electrons to high speeds into the upper atmosphere where they spur auroras. The instability occurs when waves of charged particles from the sun crash into Earth's magnetic field around the time of the equinoxes.