SPOKANE, Wash. — The final days of July may be graced with a chance to see the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis.
While this is far from the massively impressive display back on May 10-11 of this year, any chance to see the Northern Lights is cool for avid sky viewers. The forecast for the nights of July 30th and 31st is on the more moderate in terms of solar activity. The KP-Index will be around a 5 but could peak at a 7 if we're lucky.
The best place to view in Eastern Washington: Anywhere where it's dark and miles away from city lights. Best time to view: after 10:30pm. The earlier the better, but the skies obviously have to be dark enough to view them in the first place.
The KP-Index is used to measure solar storm strength. You generally need at least a KP-3 for the Aurora to even be active. KP-5 is moderate and is visible along the northern horizon for those in the northern U.S. KP-7 is strong and Auroras can appear quite bright. And KP-9 is extreme where a wide swath of the U.S. will be able to view... this is what happened back in May.
