Three things lined up today, providing an exciting evening of aurora watching.
- Tickling of the ionosphere – with the peaking of the 11-year solar cycle, it’s been ramping up. But this week, K-index of 9 and blobs-o’-sun heading our way.
- Darkness – normally these are seen in Winter because nights are longer. But there’s also an issue with light pollution. The state map is pretty much “anywhere there’s people.”
- Clear skies – aaaaaannnnddddd this is where we have problems. From mid-September through mid-June is more likely to have cloud cover and light, chronic rain.
Having all three occur at the same time is rare.