The northern lights are likely to occur Friday evening in southern Quebec. But they will be less severe than those in the middle of the month.
On the Northern Lights Forecast website, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that the probability of a Northern Lights occurring in Nunavik is very high and moderate in southern Quebec. In comparison, on Saturday evening, there is a moderate possibility of the northern lights appearing in Nunavik and zero in southern Quebec.
The northern lights are caused by a solar storm created by a “sunspot,” an area of the Sun with intense magnetic activity, resulting in “solar flares.” These solar flares send particles toward Earth, changing the magnetic field that protects our planet. These changes in the magnetic field cause the northern lights.
The sunspot that caused the stunning northern lights on May 10 and 11 has returned to face Earth, having made a full orbit. According to an article published Wednesday on the Montreal Planetarium website, June 6 would be the ideal time to observe the northern lights, if a solar flare occurs at that time, because it will be a new moon, and thus on a night when the moon is new. Not visible where it is darker.
