Northern Lights Now – This post contains live updates to the storm predicted in Coronal Hole Prompts G1 Aurora Watch for Sat/Sun March 3rd and 4th.
March 7, 2016 03:45UTC (10:45 PM EST)
Tonight’s Aurora show has ended for most viewers. There may still be some good photos come in from areas that only need KP=4, but for the mostpart it’s time to good to bed for the sleep deprived intrepid aurora hunters. By all accounts it has been a terrific night. The official prediction was for a single 3-hour period of KP=5, but there were 12 hours with the KP in the G1 zone with a peak period of G3 activity:
This evening Eastern North America joined in the action just as the storm was abating – hunters in Prince Edward Island, Maine and New Hampshire all reported success:
PEI from aurora hunter John Morris:
Good show so far! #northernlights #AuroraBorealis pic.twitter.com/ZcnrdyyCbz
— John Morris (@jmweb) March 7, 2016
Maine from our friend Rob Wright:
A couple of aurora images from York, Maine tonight around 7:45 PM ET… pic.twitter.com/YqyRAnskHa
— Rob Wright Images (@RobWrightImages) March 7, 2016
New Hampshire from the Mount Washington Observatory atop the White Mountains:
#NorthernLights (#AuroraBorealis) as seen from the summit @ 8 pm EST tonight. #NHwx #NH #whitemountains #Aurora #sky pic.twitter.com/eu31i5czTS
— MWObservatory (@MWObs) March 7, 2016
March 7, 2016 00:30UTC (7:30 PM EST)
The storm has started to abated just a little. But it has been great. We haven’t seen any aurora posted by hunters in North America yet, but we expect at least some from Maine and PEI soon. Bz has been north over the last 20 minutes. If it stays that way, the show will be over in about 45 minutes. If it shifts back to the south, even parts of the midwest could have an opportunity for aurora tonight.
March 6, 2016 19:30UTC (5:30 PM EST)
This is an absolutely amazing storm! Bz continues to be south as much as 10nT, Bt has been between 10nT and 20nT for hours, and there are clear skies in much of the UK and Ireland. One indicator of the strength of this is storm is all the reports of Red hues to the aurora.
Check out these wonderful aurora tweets:
@NorthLightAlert @VisitNland @NTHadriansWall @CanonUKandIE How #Northumberland looks tonight with red skies
pic.twitter.com/3NkWNTlDRp
— Graeme Peacock (@GraemePeacock1) March 6, 2016
#aurora Northumberland now @owenhumphreys1 @kielder_obs @TamithaSkov @aurorawatchuk pic.twitter.com/jZg1JTpN78
— mark hume (@mark_hume) March 6, 2016
#auroraborealis #poolicht op #Terschelling, hemels mooi !!!!! pic.twitter.com/BRHN40paKO
— Sytse Schoustra (@SytseSchoustra) March 6, 2016
March 6, 2016 17:00UTC (3:00 PM EST)
This storm is continuing to get stronger. KP is predicted to be 6.67 in 45 minutes. Aurora reports are streaming in on Twitter from
Ireland:
We have contact #aurora #Muff #Ireland @aurora_ireland @TamithaSkov @visit_donegal @VisitInishowen @Audi pic.twitter.com/aTzFGcl9aY
— Bren Whelan (@wawrockclimbing) March 6, 2016
Northumberland :
#aurora Northumberland now @owenhumphreys1 @kielder_obs @TamithaSkov @aurorawatchuk pic.twitter.com/jZg1JTpN78
— mark hume (@mark_hume) March 6, 2016
and Netherlands:
Live: fotografisch poollicht Egmond aan Zee. @PoollichtBE pic.twitter.com/d2poE0rX7d
— Kees Zwaan (@Kees_Zwaan) March 6, 2016
March 6, 2016 16:00UTC (2:00 PM EST)
As expected, the Wing KP model was under-estimating the strength of this storm. The Boulder Kp which is based on ground measurments over the last three hours was just updated to 5.67 indicating G2 storming. There is nothing in the data to suggest this won’t be a very good storm for Europe and possibly Iceland and the northeastern US once it gets dark. Here’s a snapshot of the current Ovation model output:
March 6, 2016 13:00UTC (11:00 PM EST)
Solar wind data at ACE is indicating that the high speed solar wind from the coronal hole is arriving. The Bz component of the magnetic field is oriented south and has been for over an hour and a half. Wing KP (which the graph to the right and in the post below) is based on is indicating a predicted KP of 4.00. This likely an underestimate of the actual KP. Once the Boulder ground-based KP readings come in, the wing KP model will respond with higher readings. This is looking like it could be a good storm!
