SPOKANE, Wash. — The northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, will be visible in the northern U.S. and Canada tonight, the night of September 28-29.
Solar storms that interact with Earth's magnetic field create the aurora, typically for one or two nights at a time. For tonight, the peak of the solar storm will be between 8 P.M. and 2 A.M. Pacific Time.
To see the northern lights, you must get away from the lights. Light pollution in cities will make it impossible to see, so it's recommended you live or travel at least 30 minutes away from metro areas to get outside of these light pollution domes.
A high elevation spot with an unobstructed view of the north with no cities due north either will give you the best chance to see the aurora.
Far North Idaho will have a particularly good chance to see the aurora in the sky tonight. While locations around Spokane and southward will have to look directly towards the horizon.
The Space Weather Prediction Center, a branch of NOAA, says that the Kp index, which measure geomagnetic solar activity, with be around a 5 or 6 before 2 A.M. Tuesday morning
