Northern Lights Thursday You Say? Not likely…

You may be seeing hyped-up headlines on other media sites touting that the northern lights, aka the aurora borealis, will be visible Thursday in 17 states in the US, including Wisconsin.

KFIZ News Director Doug Raflik says not so fast to that prediction. At least not to the extent it’s being advertised at.

While the sun has been active with solar flares that do cause the northern lights, it’s difficult to predict the extent to which the northern lights will make it south 2 days out, much less 5 days out which is when most news outlets ran the story.

One of the main parameters used to forecast the extent south the lights will be visible is called the Kp Index. An index of at least 6 is needed to see the lights higher in the sky in the Fond du Lac area. As of now, the Kp index for Thursday is forecast to be 4. So while yes, the news that northern lights will be seen in Wisconsin Thursday may be true, it will likely be far northern Wisconsin, and even then, low to the horizon.

If things change, and the forecast for the lights improve, KFIZ will update our webpage and Facebook page to advise of such.

Solar cycles of sunspot frequency occur every 11 years and the peak of this cycle will be next year, so even if the lights aren’t visible this week, they likely will be sooner than later.