Northern lights could dazzle to start July 4 weekend

(NEXSTAR) – Sure, you may be hoping to see fireworks or a drone show over the July 4 weekend, but nature may be gearing up to give you its own colorful nighttime display.

Forecasters say some may have the chance to see the northern lights on Friday.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has been watching two major sunspot groups this week. One spot sparked a solar flare reaching X1 strength, Shawn Dahl, a service coordinator with the SWPC, said in a Tuesday update. “X” is the highest classification available for solar flares, but “1” is the weakest level in that tier.

“[It was a] rather impulsive event, meaning it was fairly quick, it didn’t last very long, but clearly a lot of energy there,” Dahl explained. At the time, it wasn’t yet clear whether the coronal mass ejection (CME) believed to be associated with the activity was coming toward Earth.

On Wednesday, the SWPC confirmed the CME is likely to impact us and spark “increased geomagnetic activity.”

If conditions are right, mainly “the orientation of the embedded magnetic field,” the SWPC says there is a........

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