GREAT FALLS — AURORA ALERT! The Aurora Borealis – also known as the Northern Lights – is out overnight (into the morning of July 23, 2022) and may be visible as far south as the yellow line!
Can you see the Northern Lights in Great Falls MT?
While it’s not an everyday occurrence, the Northern Lights are most certainly visible in the great state of Montana.
Where in Montana can I see the Northern Lights?
Montana Northern Lights – The 6 Best Places to See Them
- Glacier National Park.
- Missoula.
- Cascade County.
- Seeley-Swan Valley.
- Kalispell.
- Whitefish Lake State Park.
What time of year can you see the Northern Lights in Montana?
Prime time to catch the spectacular light show is in the spring when the nights are longer and darker compared to summer. From September to April, when it is winter/spring in the northern hemisphere, the sky is also more transparent, making it ideal to see the lights of the north.
Is 2022 a good year to see the Northern Lights?
“There will continue to be aurora viewing opportunities in 2022,” Steenburgh said. “The solar cycle is indeed ramping up and as solar activity increases, so do the chances for Earth-directed blobs of plasma, the coronal mass ejections, which drive the geomagnetic storms and aurora.”
What time of day is best to see Northern Lights?
The Northern Lights can show at any time of the day as long as there are darkness, clear skies, and solar activity, as we mentioned before. Statistically, midnight and the hours around midnight from 10:00 to 2:00 are the best time of day to see the Northern Lights and when most Aurora sightings concentrate.
How far south can the Northern Lights be seen?
To observers at far-northern latitudes, the Lights are a frequent occurrence, but many who live in more temperate climates have never seen them, even though they are occasionally seen as far south as 35 degrees North latitude.
Do the Northern Lights happen every night?
Auroras happen in every month but because they’re impossible to see against the super-light late night summer skies far up north, our trips to see them tend to take place when the night skies are properly dark.
What month is best to see the Northern Lights?
Thanks to longer hours of darkness and clear night skies, December through March is usually the best time to observe this elusive natural phenomenon (though you can sometimes see the northern lights starting as early as August).
Are Northern Lights visible from Glacier National Park?
You can see aurora borealis any time of year in Glacier National Park, of course. But in the spring, the nights are a bit longer and darker than in summer, and so it is prime time to catch an incredible light show!
When should I avoid Glacier National Park?
The best way to avoid summer crowds in Glacier National Park is to arrive before 7am at the trailhead or parking area. For extremely popular areas like Logan Pass, 7am might not be early enough to find a parking spot. Starting activities in the late afternoon (after 4pm) can also avoid the rush of daytime visitors.
How long do Northern Lights last for?
A good display may last for no longer than 15-30 minutes at a time, although if you’re really lucky, it could extend to a couple of hours or longer. To see the Northern lights, the sky needs to be dark and clear of any clouds. Some people claim the aurora comes out when temperatures are colder.
Where is the best place to see Northern Lights?
What are the best places to see the Northern Lights?
- Tromso, Norway. Based in the heart of the aurora zone in the Norwegian Arctic, the city is widely regarded as one of the world’s best places to see the Northern Lights.
- Swedish Lapland.
- Reykjavik, Iceland.
- Yukon, Canada.
- Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland.
- Ilulissat, Greenland.
Can Northern Lights be predicted?
It is difficult to predict the Northern Lights over the long term. Coronal mass ejections, which cause most of the solar storms and, therefore, stronger Auroras, are forecast 15 days in advance, but their strength and shape can vary once they get closer to Earth.
How often do the Northern Lights happen?
Fortunately, they occur frequently. “The northern lights are happening 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” said photographer Chad Blakely, owner of the northern lights tour company Lights Over Lapland (opens in new tab).
Can you see northern lights with naked eyes?
Auroras appear to the naked eye as a very faint, white glow in the night sky to the magnetic north. Many auroras are totally invisible to the naked eye or can only be seen by looking at them indirectly, i.e. out of the corner of your eye. It is extremely rare to see them in colour with the naked eye.
What does the northern lights look like?
Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow.
Can you see northern lights through clouds?
Can you see the Northern Lights through clouds? Yes, sometimes you can. When the cloud cover is thin and the aurora is strong enough.
Why are the northern lights moving south?
Dr Colin Forsyth from the UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory explained that the boundary between “open” (or disconnected) field lines and the rest of the Earth’s magnetic field is “where aurora are most likely to occur”. And when more field lines are disconnected, that boundary moves south.
Do the Northern Lights make noise?
What is clear is that the aurora does, on rare occasions, make sounds audible to the human ear. The eerie reports of crackling, whizzing and buzzing noises accompanying the lights describe an objective audible experience – not something illusory or imagined.
Do the Northern Lights move?
The Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis, appear in a clear night sky as swirling rivers of greenish-blue light. They move and dance unpredictably; sometimes barely perceptible, then suddenly growing vivid. In simple terms, the auroras can be explained as an interaction of the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field.