Northern lights possible Friday night

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KGAN) - A well-timed solar flare from our sun could put North America in good position to see the northern lights Friday night into Saturday morning. The flare originated from a new sunspot on the surface of our closest star. While not a particularly strong flare, it did produce a measurable coronal mass ejection (CME) which is headed in the direction of the Earth.

Impacts from this appear to be minor, but it could put on a good northern lights show starting as early as Friday night. Since it was a fairly potent CME, the lights may be seen farther south than usual.

The best chance of seeing the northern lights will be in the northern US, including much of northern and central Iowa. The northern lights are particularly difficult to forecast so this has the possibility of changing in the coming days.

Iowa's last big aurora display was just last April. The stunning light show lit up the night sky just north of Cedar Rapids.