Look up! The Northern Lights may shine over Canada tonight

Check the app for clear skies! A pair of solar storm may spark displays of the Aurora Borealis across Canada tonight and possibly again on Saturday night!

Eyes to the sky late on Friday, and possibly again on Saturday, for a chance to see the Northern Lights dancing across the night.

After a couple of weeks of relative quiet, solar activity is ramping up once again, as two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) erupted from the Sun over the past few days.

According to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, the first of these two CMEs, from January 21, is set to score a 'glancing blow' on Earth's geomagnetic field late on Friday.

Geomagnetic Storm Forecast - Jan 24-25 2025

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As it sweeps past, forecasters with SWPC say this coronal mass ejection could spark a minor geomagnetic storm as it interacts with Earth's magnetic field.

Additionally, as of Friday afternoon, Space Weather Canada has forecast 'active with stormy intervals' throughout the polar and auroral regions of Canada for the next six hours. For 24 hours from now (on Saturday), they are predicting unsettled with stormy intervals in the auroral region through central Canada.

Based on these two forecasts, displays of the Northern Lights could shine overnight Friday into Saturday through northern regions of eastern Canada, with the potential to be visible at times across all of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, all but the southernmost regions of Alberta, plus central and northern British Columbia.

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Aurora Visibility - Jan 24-25 2025

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The second CME, which erupted Jan. 22, is expected to make a slightly more direct impact sometime Saturday morning (EST). The effects of this may add to the impacts of the first CME, continuing the G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm levels, or possibly ramping them up to G2 (moderate) levels.

From NOAA's assessment, the geomagnetic storm conditions from the second CME are poorly timed for Canada, unfortunately, as they would occur during the daytime here. However, with the uncertainties in the exact timing of its arrival, and with it reaching us so soon after the first CME, there is the potential for its impacts to linger into Saturday night. That could result in a second chance at auroras across Canada for the weekend.

Coronal Mass Ejections - Jan 21 & 22 2025 - SDO SOHO

Two CMEs, from January 21 and January 22, 2025, are captured here, by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (top) just after the eruptions, and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (bottom) hours later. (NASA, NASA/ESA, Scott Sutherland)

Check back for any forecast updates as the weekend progresses.

(Thumbnail image courtesy Theresa Tanner, of TeamTanner Aurora and Weather Chasers, who captured this image of the Northern Lights from Alberta on November 5, 2023)

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