Look up! Gusty solar winds may spark auroras across Canada tonight

Eyes to the sky!

Check your forecast for clear skies, as there's a chance the Northern Lights may shine across parts of Canada Friday night.

There's been a lack of dramatic solar activity as of late. However, that doesn't mean we have to go without seeing the auroras!

Over the past week, a pair of large coronal holes have been crossing the face of the Sun, looking a bit like the face of a cyclops turning its disgruntled gaze upon us. Despite their somewhat comical appearance, each of these holes is a wide gap in the solar magnetic field, which has exposed part of the Sun's atmosphere directly to space.

Cyclops Coronal Holes - CH HSS - NASA NOAA

On the left, a view of the Sun's atmosphere (the corona), from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on January 29, 2025, showing two dark coronal holes that resemble the face of an angry cyclops. On the right, a computer model of the solar wind around the Sun reveals its pinwheel pattern, with slower flow in blue/green and faster flow in orange/red. This particular frame of the model is timed for early in the morning on February 1, 2025, as one of the fast flows begins to sweep past Earth. (NASA, NOAA SWPC)

From out of those gaps is flowing a fast stream of the solar wind, made up of high-energy solar particles. In space, this forms something a bit like a wind gust that we'd encounter on a blustery day here on Earth. And just like how we feel a strong push from a wind gust blowing past us, when this 'gust' of the solar wind sweeps past Earth, the buildup of charged particles along the leading edge of the stream will 'push' on Earth's geomagnetic field.

Due to the potential impacts of this 'coronal hole high speed stream', NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has forecast a G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm for overnight Friday into early Saturday morning.

The timing for this forecast, and thus for any possible displays of the Northern Lights, is specifically from 10 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 31 through 4 a.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 1.

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For observers in the eastern half of Canada, this means there's a chance to spot the auroras tonight, just along the northern horizon. Due to the shape of the 'aurora oval', they will probably not reach far enough south to be visible from southern and southwestern Ontario, Nova Scotia, or the eastern halves of New Brunswick, P.E.I., and Newfoundland.

However, there is a better chance to see auroras tonight across the western half of the country, simply due to the more northerly latitude.

Aurora-viewing-lines-tonight-tomorrow-NOAA

These experimental Aurora viewline plots show the potential for seeing the Northern Lights on the nights of Jan. 31-Feb. 1 (left) and Feb. 1-2 (right). The swath of colour represents the probability of seeing auroras overhead, from low (green) to moderate (yellow/orange) to high (red). The thin red line to the south represents the farthest southerly visibility, where auroras might be seen just along the northern horizon. (NOAA SWPC)

Generally, the best time to observe the auroras is around local midnight.

Due to the timing of this geomagnetic storm, though, observers through the Prairies may want to start checking their skies a few hours earlier, just in case.

(Thumbnail image courtesy Alex Dostie, who submitted this picture of the Aurora Borealis seen in Lambton, Quebec (Estrie region), on Oct. 6, 2024.)

Watch below: What gives the auroras their vibrant colours?