What is the southern most location in the US to see the Northern Lights (Aurora)?

Answer 1

First of all, you can elminate any areas around major cities - there's too much light pollution.

Secondly, the strength/brightness of an aurora varies depending on solar conditions. They are caused by charged particles in the solar wind (gaseous matter ejected by the sun in all directions) getting pulled into the earths atmosphere due to the magnetic field of the planet (debris from meteors and comets can get pulled in too). The magnetic field pulls the particles to the poles of the planet so the particles are far more concentrated. The interaction with the atmosphere is what causes the lights.

So there are times when there's far more particles than usual getting pulled into the earth's atmosphere such as after a solar event like a flare or geomagnetic storm. It's during these times the concentration of particles is high enough so that the concentration away from the poles is high enough to produce the lights (not to mention make the lights closer to the pole even brighter).

Theoretically, if there's enough material ejected by the sun at once, then it'd be possble to see the aurora just south of the equator (you'd be able to see both the northern and southern lights at the same time). However this is very unlikely.

In April 2000, the aurora was seen as far south as Florida thanks to a major solar activity. Since solar activity is cyclical (11 year cycle) we can next expect to see extremely bright auroras in 2011.

Answer 2

Where do Auroras Occur?
The global distribution of auroral activity is an oval around the magnetic poles in both hemispheres. As the level of magnetic disturbance of the Earth's magnetic field increases, the oval of auroral activity expands equatorward. Known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north, auroras occur in the upper atmosphere of both poles and are occasionally visible from middle latitudes as a dark red glow near the poleward horizon.

The southernmost location to observe Auroras is at the South pole...Called Aurora Australis.


When can the aurora be seen?
The aurora is a permanent feature of the earth's upper atmosphere. It is actually an oval centered on the magnetic north and south poles. The magnetic poles are some distance, 700 meters, away from the geographic poles. The size and shape of the auroral ovals change depending on how hard and how fast the solar wind is blowing. When the sun is quiet and the solar wind is calm, the aurora oval is small and thin. When the sun becomes more active and the solar wind hits the earth's magnetic field with strong gusts, the aurora oval becomes wider and stretches south.

As a result of the oval's position, prime viewing is in northern and interior Alaska, and northern Canada. In Fairbanks and Nome, Alaska, the northern lights can be seen almost 200 days a year. In Europe, only the northernmost part of Scandinavia falls in the prime viewing region. In the southern hemisphere, the oval falls mostly over Antarctica, so the southern aurora (aurora australis) is photographed infrequently.

The aurora is always present, but for most people in the United States and Europe, it rarely stretches far enough south for them to see, especially with light pollution in the major population centers. It is not bright enough to see in daylight, so you can see it for more hours in the winter than in summer. The aurora is most often seen around midnight, though bright displays can occur at any time. If a bright display occurs early in the evening, there is a good chance that another display will follow a couple of hours later.


This site has a chart to findout if you can see the aurora from where you live... http://sec.noaa.gov/Aurora/index.html

This site will show a prediction for auroral activity in your area... http://www.gi.alaska.edu/aurora_predict/worldmap6.html

Answer 3

Aurora have been seen as far south as Singapore (2 degrees N latitute), so under the right conditions you theoretically could see them anywhere. But those conditions are quite rare. If you really want a reasonable chance to see them in the US, head to northern Minnesota.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

NOAA has lots of info on the Aurora Borealis at SEC, their Space Environment Center. The website has nifty maps and graphics:
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html

Answer 6

Canada, possibly by the Saskatchewan Province.

Answer 7

I saw them in New Mexico once. I thought it was a forest fire at first. An extremely rare event.

Answer 8

As for continental US, you have to go to Canada. Be careful if you go however, they don't like us anymore ever since they are trying to be with the 'in' crowd.

Answer 9

alaska