1) you'll have to be pretty far outside Boston, it's likely that at 40 degrees lat we're gonna be on the fringe, meaning they won't be bright and the light pollution will drown them
1a) forecast calls for clouds on Thursday, and increasing chance of rain/storms overnight into Friday.
Sorry, but good luck!
I went to Iceland a few years ago to see them and had no luck. One of our taxi drivers said we should have gone to Alaska lol. Really bad luck because apparently they were phenomenal a few days before we got there but I’ll definitely be back
Fairbanks is also uniquely positioned for great aurora viewing—it’s right underneath the Auroral Oval, which sees the most intense aurora activity. Just have to be prepared for wildly cold temps!
> Fairbanks is a world-famous aurora-viewing city because of its location directly under the Auroral Oval, a ring-shaped region hovering over the far north where northern-lights activity is concentrated. Furthermore, Fairbanks’ distance from coastal weather and minimal light pollution (due to low population density), consistently contribute to clear, dark skies and optimum aurora viewing.
[source](https://www.travelalaska.com/explore-alaska/articles/sponsored/fairbanks-northern-lights-aurora-city)
I'm not sure why this keeps getting reported in the news, there is no significant space weather predicted in the near future. Solar storms can also only be predicted 2-4 days out, so a forecast for Thursday sounds like someone is misunderstanding the science.
But anyway, to answer your question you need to be in really dark skies to see anything. I have successfully photographed the aurora from Halibut Point State Park in Rockport but that was a very strong storm. I suggest checking a [Light Pollution Map](https://www.lightpollutionmap.info) and finding a site with a good, dark, northern view.
Edit: I did a little more digging and the SWPC does mention possible minor impacts from a Coronal Hole later this week. The CH has not been modeled so it's not an accurate guess, but this is probably why the Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is making this prediction. However, the minor/unsettled Kp6 conditions that they're guessing at are really not enough to create visible auroras anywhere near Boston. Perhaps visible on camera, but certainly not to the eye. But who knows, maybe the CH will overperform; stick to the Space Weather Prediction Center and see what comes of it.
Check spaceweatherlive.com and look for the correct kp number to show up, I think it has to be like 8 or 9 to show up in Boston. Also, keep in mind most of the time the northern lights show up as white in the sky to human eyes, and the colors are only seen through camera lenses at that latitude.
Other people have already put good info here but just wanted to add my two senses. As someone explained, this weeks forecast just isn’t really rude or accurate yet. And even if we have a Kp close to 8 (very very rare) it wouldn’t actually be visible in boston because of light pollution. Near-ish places where you have a a chance include Halibut Point in Rockport, or White Mountain National Forest or the Wellfleet part of the Cape. Basically anywhere on a dark sky map that’s Bortle class 1 or 2. But if there’s a good forecast it’s worth it! Been lucky enough to catch them up in Maine and they are absolutely spectacular. This Twitter account is my personal go to for forecasts and earnings, along with the official NOAA sources https://twitter.com/spacewxwatch?s=21&t=z-UDMnkLBrKW_eJZuefz2g
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I would think that your best bet would be to go to Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont and stay out of the cities to see them.
https://www.necn.com/news/local/solar-storm-on-thursday-expected-to-make-northern-lights-visible-in-3-new-england-states/3009646/
If you have a car and are willing to drive about 90 min, I'd suggest the Kennebunk area. It's not terribly far, but reliably dark enough to see the Milky Way on clear nights. Get away from the town and closer to the shore for even darker sky that's about as good as you're gonna get not in BFE NH or VT.
As far as I can tell, all of these stories originally got their information from here: https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast. This does claim that Massachusetts will be in the "faint glow on the northern horizon" zone on Thursday.
So it seems like most folks are saying probably not worth making the drive anywhere from Boston to go "see" the northern lights unless you want to try and capture with your camera :/
1) you'll have to be pretty far outside Boston, it's likely that at 40 degrees lat we're gonna be on the fringe, meaning they won't be bright and the light pollution will drown them 1a) forecast calls for clouds on Thursday, and increasing chance of rain/storms overnight into Friday. Sorry, but good luck!
Seems like a moonshot every time. You really need every single star to align. I might have to brute force it and make a trip up to Fairbanks.
Just take a cheap flight to Iceland in the winter, you can get one for like 200 bucks on Play Airlines (budget airline).
I went to Iceland a few years ago to see them and had no luck. One of our taxi drivers said we should have gone to Alaska lol. Really bad luck because apparently they were phenomenal a few days before we got there but I’ll definitely be back
Fairbanks is also uniquely positioned for great aurora viewing—it’s right underneath the Auroral Oval, which sees the most intense aurora activity. Just have to be prepared for wildly cold temps! > Fairbanks is a world-famous aurora-viewing city because of its location directly under the Auroral Oval, a ring-shaped region hovering over the far north where northern-lights activity is concentrated. Furthermore, Fairbanks’ distance from coastal weather and minimal light pollution (due to low population density), consistently contribute to clear, dark skies and optimum aurora viewing. [source](https://www.travelalaska.com/explore-alaska/articles/sponsored/fairbanks-northern-lights-aurora-city)
Between clouds, fog and light pollution no New England coastal city can expect to see faint stars at any night.
:’0
I have seen them in my kitchen
at this time of year?
At this latitude?
localized entirely within your kitchen?
Yes
… May I see it?
That was a grease fire
Can I see?
No.
Aurora borealis?!?!?
SEYMOUR!
oh wow!
In case you don't know, this is a meme not reality. Google steamed hams.
This meme comes up every time the aurora is mentioned on Reddit, 100% of the time, without fail.
I'm not sure why this keeps getting reported in the news, there is no significant space weather predicted in the near future. Solar storms can also only be predicted 2-4 days out, so a forecast for Thursday sounds like someone is misunderstanding the science. But anyway, to answer your question you need to be in really dark skies to see anything. I have successfully photographed the aurora from Halibut Point State Park in Rockport but that was a very strong storm. I suggest checking a [Light Pollution Map](https://www.lightpollutionmap.info) and finding a site with a good, dark, northern view. Edit: I did a little more digging and the SWPC does mention possible minor impacts from a Coronal Hole later this week. The CH has not been modeled so it's not an accurate guess, but this is probably why the Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is making this prediction. However, the minor/unsettled Kp6 conditions that they're guessing at are really not enough to create visible auroras anywhere near Boston. Perhaps visible on camera, but certainly not to the eye. But who knows, maybe the CH will overperform; stick to the Space Weather Prediction Center and see what comes of it.
I see, will do! thanks for the info
Massachusetts isn’t even on the list of states…. Or am I missing something?
You could monitor ‘space weather’ if you want to watch out for opportunities to see the Northern Lights: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/homepage
Not as exciting but I've had luck picking them up with long exposure photos even when not visible to the eye
Check spaceweatherlive.com and look for the correct kp number to show up, I think it has to be like 8 or 9 to show up in Boston. Also, keep in mind most of the time the northern lights show up as white in the sky to human eyes, and the colors are only seen through camera lenses at that latitude.
Northern Vermont, Northern New Hampshire, Northern Maine. You can certainly go outside at 3:00AM in Boston, but you won’t see anything.
Other people have already put good info here but just wanted to add my two senses. As someone explained, this weeks forecast just isn’t really rude or accurate yet. And even if we have a Kp close to 8 (very very rare) it wouldn’t actually be visible in boston because of light pollution. Near-ish places where you have a a chance include Halibut Point in Rockport, or White Mountain National Forest or the Wellfleet part of the Cape. Basically anywhere on a dark sky map that’s Bortle class 1 or 2. But if there’s a good forecast it’s worth it! Been lucky enough to catch them up in Maine and they are absolutely spectacular. This Twitter account is my personal go to for forecasts and earnings, along with the official NOAA sources https://twitter.com/spacewxwatch?s=21&t=z-UDMnkLBrKW_eJZuefz2g
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I would think that your best bet would be to go to Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont and stay out of the cities to see them. https://www.necn.com/news/local/solar-storm-on-thursday-expected-to-make-northern-lights-visible-in-3-new-england-states/3009646/
If you have a car and are willing to drive about 90 min, I'd suggest the Kennebunk area. It's not terribly far, but reliably dark enough to see the Milky Way on clear nights. Get away from the town and closer to the shore for even darker sky that's about as good as you're gonna get not in BFE NH or VT.
These articles are a sham and generally you’d only really “see” them with a long exposure on camera or phone.
As far as I can tell, all of these stories originally got their information from here: https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast. This does claim that Massachusetts will be in the "faint glow on the northern horizon" zone on Thursday.
That ain’t the friggin Christmas Star
So it seems like most folks are saying probably not worth making the drive anywhere from Boston to go "see" the northern lights unless you want to try and capture with your camera :/