BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Northern Lights may be visible in latitudes much farther south than normal this coming Thursday night. If skies are clear WNY, we may be in for quite a light show in the middle of the night.
Normally northern lights are visible in places like Northern Canada, Alaska, and Scandinavia, closer to the Earth's North Pole.
The Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, occurs when magnetic solar winds have a collision course with Earth's magnetic field and causes atoms in the upper parts of the atmosphere to glow in different colors. If the solar winds are strong enough, then the northern lights can extend into more southerly latitudes, including over New Your state.
This is expected to occur Thursday night, and if skies are clear and you can avoid light pollution then the best time to view them would be between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. Thursday night into early Friday morning.
