(WWJ) - An exciting array of green, purple and red colors lit up skies across Michigan on Thursday evening due to a solar storm — and experts predict the aurora will only grow more intense going into the weekend.
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, a geomagnetic storm watch is in effect from Thursday into Saturday with "isolated periods of G1 storm levels late on 23 March and isolated G2 storm levels on 24 March."
A G2 storm is considered "moderate" on the prediction scale, which also forecasts how active and intense the aurora will be and how far north or south it can be seen.
The Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, are “an atmospheric phenomenon that’s regarded as the Holy Grail of sky watching,” according to Space.com.
So what does this mean for Michigan?
National Weather Service meteorologists said the display seen on Thursday — which many sky watchers are calling the best Northern Lights show they've ever seen — is expected to peak on March 24 and should be visible as far south as Mid-Michigan.
That is, if weather conditions continue to keep cloud cover away.
An early-spring storm system is expected to strike parts of the state Saturday, with a Winter Storm Watch issued for Cheboygan, Presque Isle, Otsego, Montmorency, Crawford, Oscoda and Roscommon County until 2:00 a.m. Sunday.
Experts say some locations in the Lower Peninsula where residents got to see the aurora last night will experience cloudy conditions on Friday, hindering any second viewing chances.
The Upper Peninsula has the best chance to catch the light show during the evening hours.
Residents flooded social media with photos of the northern lights and many sent Tweets and Facebook posts encouraging others to go outside and "look up."
The SWPC said the solar storm was upgraded shortly around midnight after G4 (Severe) storm levels were observed. Sky watchers in Michigan said on social media that the colors were the most intense they've viewed so far.
Experts released the following tips for the best viewing experince:
• Location: Go towards the magnetic poles. The north magnetic pole is currently about 400 km (250 miles) from the geographic pole and is located in the islands of north east Canada. Find a place where you can see to the north ( or south if you are in the southern hemisphere). Given the right vantage point, say for example on top of a hill in the northern hemisphere with an unobstructed view toward the north, a person can see aurora even when it is 1000 km (600 miles) further north. It should be noted that if you are in the right place under the aurora, you can see very nice auroral displays even with low geomagnetic activity (Kp = 3 or 4).
• It must be dark: Go out at night. Get away from city lights. The full moon will also diminish the apparent brightness of the aurora (not the actual brightness). One caveat that people often neglect to think of is that the high latitudes where aurora occur are also latitudes where it doesn’t get dark in the summer. So combining a summer vacation to the arctic with aurora watching usually doesn’t work. The aurora may still be there but it is only visible when it is dark.
• Timing: Best aurora is usually within an hour or two of midnight (between 10 PM and 2 AM local time). These hours of active aurora expand towards evening and morning as the level of geomagnetic activity increases. There may be aurora in the evening and morning but it is usually not as active and therefore, not as visually appealing. The best Seasons for aurora watching are around the spring and fall equinoxes. Due to subtleties in the way the solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetosphere, there is a tendency towards larger geomagnetic storms, and thus better auroras, to occur near the equinoxes. However, the number of hours of darkness decreases (increases) rapidly near the spring (fall) equinox so this caveat must be considered for those traveling to see the aurora.
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