The Whole United States will be able to see the sky Phenomena Northern Lights on Friday Night (3/24/23)

Question

This post claims that the Northern Lights will be able to be seen by everyone in the US. Is this true? How and why is it possible now and what prevented this before?

Answer 1

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g4-severe-geomagnetic-storm-alert-24-march-utc-day

The Space Weather Prediction Center, a weather service provided by the US National Weather Service and run by the government, has released a map of the severe geomagnetic storm which occurred late on the 24th. The Northern Lights are a phenomenon associated with geomagnetic storms. In the map on the website, you can see a red line called the "view line" which estimates where you will be able to see the lights. Based on the location of the view line, not everyone in the US will be able to see the Northern Lights.

However, there are reports that the storm reached further south than predicted, which may be the source of this rumor. In this New York Times article, it is stated that "the views even moved as far south as Arizona and North Carolina." The article provides a testimony that the lights were viewed in North Carolina, but provides no real evidence that they were visible in Arizona, though. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/us/northern-lights-aurora-virginia-us.html

Nonetheless, a local Floridian news station reported that the lights did not reach Florida. "Here in Florida the Aurora was not spotted..."

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/weather/aurora-far-south-as-north-carolina-this-week-did-we-see-it-in-florida/77-bdeb66ce-b5bf-4d6d-afc1-f98716ebedbb

Because Florida is a part of the United States, and the lights were not visible in Florida, the claim that the whole United States was able to see the 3/24 Northern Lights is false.

RATING: False

Comments

I like how you provided thorough background information and multiple solid sources as well as relevant quotes and information. Nice work!

Answer 2

The lights were seen in parts of the United States, but not everywhere. According to a New York Times article, the lights were visible in Minnesota, New York and Virginia, Arizona, and North Carolina. This was due to "a “severe” geomagnetic storm." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/us/northern-lights-aurora-virginia-us.html

Answer 3

This claim is exaggerated misleading. Although The Washington Post agrees that the northern lights can/will be seen from points in the USA, it cannot be seen from all of the USA. In conclusion, this claim is only partially true. The second part of the claim addresses the reasoning behind this phenomenon, which The Washington Post describes as a, "recent storming on the surface of the sun could set off auroras".

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/03/24/northern-lights-aurora-us-virginia/

Answer 4

This is sort of true because while the northern lights were visible in the united states the other night, it wasn't everywhere. So this would be considered misleading. I have two sources, the first one describes where the northern lights are normally visible. The second one describes why and where the northern lights were visible in the US.

1. "The northern lights most commonly occur within the geographic area beneath the auroral oval. It encompasses latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees and takes in Iceland, northern parts of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia, Canada and Alaska as well as southern Greenland." (Link)

2. "The colorful streaks in the sky, also known as the northern lights, are often visible from places like Alaska, Canada and Iceland. But on Thursday night, a “severe” geomagnetic storm brought the auroras to Minnesota, New York and Virginia, and the views even moved as far south as Arizona and North Carolina." (Link)