Tonight in northern parts of Vermont, you might be able to see the northern lights on the horizon.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a moderate geomagnetic storm watch for the night.
Eric Myskowski, a meteorologist with the Burlington Weather Service, said this means that the auroras might be visible in northern Vermont.
If the geomagnetic storm is stronger than expected, places in southern Vermont may also be in the viewline.
Vermont is too far south to see anything directly overhead — for that, Myskowski said, you’d have to go into Quebec.
Being in the predicted viewline doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll see the northern lights.
“There is some variability in these space weather forecasts. They’re typically tougher to forecast than some of the weather elements,” Myskowski said.
Skies in most of Vermont should be clear enough to catch a glimpse of the aurora.
“Parts of the Northeast Kingdom might hold on to some cloud cover into the first part of the night, but by the middle part of the night, the clouds should erode away from there as well,” Myskowski said.
He said the peak of aurora activity would be from once it gets dark (around 6 p.m.) to a little past midnight.
For the best view tonight, Myskowski recommended that Vermonters make their way to open spaces, away from light pollution.
