northern lights

The Northern Lights might be visible near Toronto tonight

The Northern Lights might be visible from areas just outside of Toronto tonight as a coronal mass ejection has sparked geomagnetic storms. Space weather forecasts indicate significant activity in the Sub-Auroral region, which includes Southern Ontario.

You won't be able to see the Aurora Borealis from urban areas on account of light pollution, but this looks like a big enough storm to warrant a bit of driving for a chance to get a glimpse at this rare phenomenon.

If you're planning on making a trip, your best bet is to use the Dark Sky Finder. Heading northwest gets you to the darkest skies within the shortest distance, but where you go also depends having a good spot to spend some time looking up the sky.

A place like the Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Preserve would be perfect, but it's a bit of a trek. Just make sure that you pick somewhere with a good vista to the north.

The cloud cover forecast isn't amazing for our region tonight, but there's reason to be cautiously optimistic that around 10 p.m. we'll get mostly clear skies, which are obviously necessary to take in the show.

I'd double check the Clear Sky Chart before heading out, but with a little luck, we could be in for a spectacular sight tonight.

Lead photo by

Richard Gottardo


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