Northern lights are expected through Friday in night sky. Can you see them from Boise?

A G4 (severe) Geomagnetic Storm watch was issued Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, which said the aurora borealis may be visible in Idaho on Thursday and Friday nights.

Will the aurora, the Northern Lights, be visible from Boise? Or will clouds keep residents from seeing them?

Here’s what we know so far.

Will Boise see the aurora borealis?

Bryan Brasher, project manager at the Space Weather Predictions Center in Los Angeles, California, said the solar flare was ejected from the sun late Tuesday night. The resulting storm reached Earth about 11 a.m. Thursday.

According to NOAA’s experimental aurora dashboard, the storm was expected to produce Northern Lights on Thursday night.

“The best time to see is plus or minus a few hours around local midnight. However, if there’s a particularly strong storm going on, you can see it really anytime,” Brasher told the Idaho Statesman by phone. “The key matter is to just need be available in someplace dark with clear skies and looking at the northern horizon and see what you can see. It might almost appear like a slight green cloud, or, you know, like a fog.”

But while Boise was within the predicted view line, it was not clear if cloud coverage would allow residents a good view.

Will Boise have clouds during the northern lights?

Jackson Macfarlane, a meterologist from the National Weather Service in Boise, said there was a chance of cloud cover Thursday evening. The Weather Service website also showed scattered conditions Thursday night.

“The current satellite imagery shows an area of clear skies like Ontario and to the northwest of Ontario, but most of the models keep at least some high clouds over Boise and the Treasure Valley, at least through midnight,” Macfarlane said by phone.

If you are up around that time, you may want to step outside and look to the north horizon.

This story was originally published October 10, 2024 at 7:31 PM.

Vincent Medina

Idaho Statesman

Vincent Medina is a service journalism reporting intern at the Idaho Statesman. He grew up in Los Angeles county, California, and was previously a summer reporting intern at The Sacramento Bee before accepting an extension in Boise. If you like reading stories like his, please consider supporting his work with a digital subscription.