Chicago area has 2nd chance to see Northern Lights Saturday night due to strong solar storm (2024)

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An unusually strong solar storm is giving most of the country a chance to see Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis. The storm could potentially disrupt power and communications.

People in parts of the Chicago area have a second chance to see the light show on Saturday, depending on how far they are from the city's light pollution.

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For Saturday night, the best chance to see the Northern Lights in the Chicago area will be once the sun goes down. The ABC7 Weather Team has clear skies in the forecast.

It's the talk of the town. So many people are still shocked that the Northern Lights are visible from Chicago.

Some people got lucky and caught the rare experience in Evanston on Friday, but those who didn't may have another chance Saturday night.

It is a once in a lifetime experience for many, catching the Northern Lights in Chicago. It was a sight to behold late Friday night. One man stumbled upon the special skies while on a bike ride.

"Looked over here above Ryan Field House and noticed a crescent moon and was like oh I'll take a picture of that," Niles resident Liam Boyle said. "I was taking the picture and I'm like, 'holy cow the sky is way different than I've ever seen before.'"

Boyle made sure to snap of some photos as he stood there in awe. He was left speechless, taking it all in, before he realized others were running to the lakefront to see it themselves.

"It was surreal... honestly surreal," Boyle said. "I was probably the only person out here at first then people started creeping out of the woodworks everywhere just in."

That was the sentiment for many across Illinois who saw the surprising show. People sent in photos to ABC7 from Mount Sterling of the sky showing off. More of the same was seen in Lisle, too.

"You know people got their differences but something like this just brings us all together... we're all the same at that point," Boyle said.

The sense of community that comes from a rare occurrence like this is what makes it all so special.

"I guess from a humanity standpoint there were millions of people all looking at the sky at the same exact moment," said Michell Nichols with the Adler Planetarium. "There were millions of people around the planet who got to see the auroras for the very first time last night."

Those who missed out on the show Friday may want to set their alarms for another chance overnight Saturday into Sunday.

"The latest forecast is that another one of these solar storms... clouds of material from the sun will impact the earths magnetic field," Nichols said. "Set your alarms, and maybe try for maybe 3 to 4 a.m.... hard to say."

The Northern Lights are a stunning display, dazzling viewers across the Midwest and beyond, and the science behind it is just as amazing.

"The one from 20 years ago is comparable, but... that's something... pretty unique," Nichols said.

A solar outburst is peppering our planet with charged particles from the sun.

"The sun has a solar cycle," said Shawn Dahl with the NOAA Space Weather.

As much as we know about how the Northern Lights are caused, predicting them is still an imperfect science.

"The first one from yesterday arrived several hours early," Nichols said. "Space weather forecasting [has changed since] 30-40 years ago."

READ MORE | Northern Lights visible in parts of Chicago area on Friday due to strong solar storm

"Think of it like a hurricane... another CME on the way tomorrow," Dahl said.

Even if the final round is a bust, there's still a bonus prize for those who kept their solar eclipse glasses from last month. They can be used to see parts of the solar storm.

"Go look at the sun, safely... just with solar glasses," Nichols said.

The extreme geomagnetic storm will continue and persist through at least Sunday, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center said on X on Saturday morning.

NOAA said extreme (G5) conditions were seen again at 6:28 a.m. CT on Saturday, meaning auroras will be visible again for most of the country.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.

NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"For most people here on planet Earth, they won't have to do anything," said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center.

On Friday, the lights were spotted in Oak Lawn, downtown Chicago and more by 10 p.m. Friday.

The storm was hard to predict and experts stressed it won't be the dramatic curtains of color normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues.

The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona.

Satellites could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth.

An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.

Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long.

NASA said the storm posed no serious threat to the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The biggest concern is the increased radiation levels, and the crew could move to a better shielded part of the station if necessary.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.