Here are the best times and places to watch

A geomagnetic storm warning was issued from Friday to Sunday night ahead of these two eruptions. “At this level, it may be possible under the best of circumstances for northern New Englanders to see the auroras along the northern horizon well beyond the city lights and under clear skies,” said Shawn Dahl, meteorologist with SWPC.

Best times and places to watch

Even though the sun sets earlier, the best time to catch a glimpse of the lights is between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., and this weekend it looks to be less cloudy on Saturday and Sunday nights. Currently, the best viewing spots are anywhere in Vermont, New Hampshire, and the northern parts of Massachusetts (roughly up to Route 2).

Weather forecast

It could prove difficult to capture the Northern Lights on Friday evening as increasing clouds are expected later tonight before a cold front arrives with isolated showers. If you try it, temperatures should be around 50 degrees by midnight. The rain showers should end by late morning Saturday, making Saturday night and Sunday night a better bet to see the shimmering display.

Saturday evening should provide a great chance to capture the lights with clear skies as high pressure moves in – albeit colder as midnight temperatures will likely be in the upper 40s in northern New England and low 50s in Mass.

Another front will move into New England late Sunday. So expect more clouds to fill the sky, ruining New Englanders' chances of catching the lights.

Tips for sightseeing

If you can't see anything, don't worry. Scientists say the northern lights are not always visible to the naked eye. But your cell phone is a great addition and can actually capture the full beauty of the flickering bands in the sky with just a few clicks.

“Aim at the sky and take a shot. You might be surprised when you check your phone later to see what beautiful shots you find,” said Brent Gordon, scientist at SWPC.

That's because cell phones are much more tuned to visible wavelengths and therefore “can capture light much better than our eyes,” he explained.

“We’ve seen cell phone photos from as far away as South Texas, so it’s possible.”

Patience is key

And despite the increased chances of activity in ideal weather conditions, sometimes the Northern Lights just don't come out dancing or you just need a little patience. The Space Weather Prediction Center analyzes a variety of variables to estimate the potential for auroral activity.

“It is extremely difficult to figure out whether a CME actually hits Earth, grazes us, or misses us completely. The sun is 93 million miles away and it is not easy to detect any possible impact on Earth,” Dahl added.

Earlier this year you could see the Northern Lights in Cape Cod, Central Mass. and seen in parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island, although the line of sight was further north at the time.

When the SWPC issues a geomagnetic storm warning, it means it does not yet know the direction of the CME. Only when the CME is about 1 million miles from Earth will they get a clearer picture of what to expect. At this point, meteorologists can issue a geomagnetic warning depending on the magnetic energy, strength and direction at that point.

“Even if a G3 clock can confirm and confirm this, that does not mean that the CME was as intense as it passed Earth during the main observation window,” Dahl said.

This week's strong flares

On Wednesday, a strong solar flare hit the class

A second, more powerful solar flare – the strongest observed since 2017 – was observed on Thursday, and the SWPC subsequently issued strong geomagnetic storm warnings of G3 magnitude for Friday through Sunday, “due to two coronal mass ejections expected to arrive.”

Coronal mass ejections are large ejections of plasma and magnetic fields from the solar corona that cause powerful geomagnetic storms when the CMEs reach Earth and project the auroras farther south than usual.

“Eruptions of this magnitude are generally unusual,” said Dr. Ryan French, solar astrophysicist at the National Science Foundation's National Solar Observatory CQ in Boulder, Colorado, on the X9 flare.

Solar flares are classified similarly to earthquakes. The smallest belong to the B class, followed by C, M and X, the largest. Similar to the Richter scale, each letter represents a tenfold increase in energy output. Within each letter class there is also a finer scale of 1 to 9 – meaning an X9 flare is the strongest possible.

Why all the strong aurora activity?

“We are in the grip of the solar maximum of solar cycle 25,” Dahl said. “Solar cycles are an average period of 11 years” during which the sun goes from a “minimum of activity to a maximum and back to a minimum again.”

This reversal occurs because the Sun reverses its magnetic poles every 11 years due to constant magnetic turbulence within it. We will essentially only know in hindsight when the peak of activity will occur, but the increased activity over the last six months gives scientists confidence that we are close.

“2024 has proven to be a very active year for aurora viewing. “It is currently assumed that we can expect space weather storms for the rest of this year and possibly into 2025,” says Dahl.

Aside from the beautiful display of color, geomagnetic storms can continue to disrupt technical infrastructure as they pass, affecting signals for minutes to hours.

Ken Mahan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Instagram @kenmahantheweatherman.