Strong cycle of aurora activity brings more light shows to Adirondack viewers in days, months to come
By Mike Lynch
Northern lights could be visible in the Adirondacks for the third night this week in what has been a spectacular year for the phenomena.
The Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday and Friday. Described as “a disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field,” geomagnetic storms are capable of disrupting power grids and GPS, in addition to creating the conditions for northern light displays.
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This current storm had originally been forecasted to be “severe,” meaning a high level of geomagnetic activity, but that was downgraded after it arrived on Earth at 11:15 a.m. Thursday.
The storm has the potential to reach G4 level, with a slight chance of reaching G5, the highest rating.
The show could reach as far south as Alabama if the skies are clear. The skies above Saranac Lake in the northern Adirondacks are forecasted to be mostly cloudy tonight, according to the National Weather Service.
The northern lights that lit up Adirondack skies on May 10 reached the G5 level, the first time that has occurred since 2003.
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“I think that just points to how active this solar cycle has been and how much energy the sun is capable of releasing due to all the magnetic changes and things going on in this particular solar cycle,” said Shawn Dahl, a forecaster with the Space Weather Prediction Center, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
He said we are currently in the peak of Solar Cycle 25, a roughly 11-year cycle that started in December 2019.
Scientists aren’t able to determine the exact peak of solar cycles until they have passed but we are expected to have it late this year or early in 2025.
“Bottom line, we’re still in line for a ride with this solar cycle activity through this year, well into next year and maybe even in 2026,” Dahl said.
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The cycle has been more active than the previous one, 24, according to scientists, but it isn’t necessarily unusual to have this much activity. During the last cycle, no storms hit the G5 level.
The prospect for more northern lights has photographers and aurora enthusiasts very excited and sleep deprived.
Kurt Gardner, a professional photographer from Old Forge, took shots of northern lights Sunday night right as a thunder and lightning storm rolled into the area, then stayed up all night Monday into Tuesday morning during what he described as the best show he’s ever seen. That storm hit the G3 level.
“The rays were so high that they went up over the top of your head and you could shoot to the south and still capture northern lights,” he said. “Wow. They were so big. It was insane. Never seen anything like it before in my life.”
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Photographer Jeff Nadler, who lives in Saratoga County, said he’s successfully photographed northern lights 17 times in 2024, but most of the time they aren’t visible to the naked eye. He said Monday into Tuesday, they were visible. That could be the case again tonight or Friday night.
Dennis Dwyer, of Morrisonville, has been hooked on chasing northern lights since seeing them in 2017. Earlier this week, he visited his seasonal camp in Saranac Lake with the hopes of catching a glimpse. “Monday into Tuesday it was just spectacular,” he said.
Top photo of the northern lights shot earlier this week in the southwestern Adirondacks by Kurt Gardner.
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