Northern Lights could appear over Metro Vancouver skies tonight

There is a chance that residents in Metro Vancouver could see the Northern Lights Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center, a relatively powerful G3-strong (KP-7 event on the KP index) geomagnetic storm is expected for Earth’s atmosphere over the next few hours.

The resulting aurora display might be visible not only within the southernmost areas of Canada but as far south as North Carolina.

While recent potent Northern Lights appearances have been caused by mass coronal ejections, tonight’s potential storm is the result of a large stream of charged particles that have been sprayed out of a coronal hole in the sun. This hole, an area on the sun’s surface where magnetic field lines are open, is currently facing Earth.

The photogenic light display is best viewed in dark areas away from urban light pollution, although the lights can still be viewed from certain locations within the region such as the westernmost edge of Spanish Banks, Acadia Beach, Grant Narrow Regional Park in Pitt Meadows, the northern face of Burnaby Mountain, Iona Beach Regional Park in Richmond, Delta and Tsawwassen.

The weather forecast for this evening calls for mostly clear skies. Some cloud cover can be expected.

If you’re able to spot and take photos of the Northern Lights, please share it with VancityBuzz on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #VancityBuzz.

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