All of Michigan could see the Northern Lights Monday night: What to know

All of Michigan will have a chance to see the Northern Lights from Monday night through Tuesday morning.

Space forecasters have issued a “strong” G3 geomagnetic storm warning, meaning the aurora could extend as far south as Michigan on Monday night and Tuesday morning. The lights were also visible to some on Sunday night.

Here’s a look at the projected forecast: The red line shows how far south the aurora could extend. As you can see, the red line extends all the way to the Michigan-Ohio border.

Tips for observing the Northern Lights:

• Look north! The aurora will likely be on the horizon, but the further north you are, the higher it will be in the sky.

• Dim the lights: Find an area with less light pollution for the best chances.

Do you want to take a photo of the lights? Post it on Local 4 MIPics here and we’ll show it on TV.

A geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance in the Earth’s magnetosphere that occurs when there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind to the space environment surrounding the Earth. These storms result from variations in the solar wind that produce significant changes in the currents, plasmas and fields of the Earth’s magnetosphere.

Solar wind conditions that are effective for creating geomagnetic storms are sustained periods (over several hours) of high-speed solar wind and, more importantly, a southward-directed solar wind magnetic field (in the opposite direction to that of the Earth’s field) on the dayside of the magnetosphere. This condition is effective for transferring energy from the solar wind to the Earth’s magnetosphere.

What are the Northern Lights?

The brilliant dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun entering the Earth’s atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres.

They are known as the “Aurora borealis” in the north and the “Aurora australis” in the south. Auroras appear in many colors, although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue and violet have been described.

Lights appear in many forms, from scattered patches or clouds of light to streamers, arcs, billowing curtains, or rays that illuminate the sky with an eerie glow.