Northern Lights possible in Pennsylvania Thursday Night

November 30, 2023 — The Northern Lights, known as the Aurora Borealis in the Northern Hemisphere (Aurora Australis in the Southern Hemisphere) will be possible in Pennsylvania Thursday night and early Friday morning.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a strong G3 geomagnetic storm will impact Earth Thursday night after the sun launched several coronal mass ejections (known as CMEs) in the direction of our planet.

According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, "Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona. They can eject billions of tons of coronal material and carry an embedded magnetic field (frozen in flux) that is stronger than the background solar wind interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strength."

Don't worry, coronal mass ejections are common and won't make you glow in the dark or destroy our planet like you see in some movies. However, they do interact with our planet's magnetic field and can produce geomagnetic storms. This interaction can lead to charged particles entering our atmosphere and producing a beautiful display. Other impacts from a geomagnetic storm include potential issues for power grids, GPS, satellites, and radio communications.