EVERETT — Stay patient and stay warm, and you’ve got a good chance of seeing the aurora borealis or “northern lights” this weekend.
The weather is expected to be “severe clear, meaning very, very clear,”said Josh Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
Viewing spots should be away from street lamps and city lights. Open, rural areas are best, said Mark Folkerts, president of the Everett Astronomical Society. Parks, school grounds and cemeteries work, if they’re open after dark.
In Snohomish County, the back yard is a good bet, sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
“County parks close after dark, and we don’t want people at trailheads or hiking after dark,” she said.
Make sure your location is away from traffic and don’t forget to stay safe, Everett police officer Aaron Snell said.
Aurora displays tend to be unpredictable, though they’re generally most visible in the middle of the night, Folkerts said. Check www.swpc.noaa.gov/Aurora and SpaceWeather.com for tips. “It’s hard to know ahead of time exactly to what extent they will develop and how bright they will be and how long they will last,” he said.
This one is likely to be visible after a solar flare a few days ago that sent a big high-speed bubble of plasma and other materials into space.
“Those energetic particles stream down into the Earth’s atmosphere and cause some of the air, the nitrogen and the oxygen and so forth, to glow and to produce what we see as the aurora,” Folkerts said.
The display is usually seen to the north or the northeast. The visuals can build up and fade away, over and over.
They’re often described as a green-yellow glow, followed by red, purple and other colors, Folkerts said. Some describe the movement as “search light beams” or “drifting curtains of light.”
“They can be very subtle,” he said.
Because of the way people see light, looking out the corner of your eye can work better than a full-on stare at the sky, Folkerts said. Cameras can capture more colors, he said. He recommends using a tripod and a long-exposure, five seconds to a minute long, to take photographs.
Wear a warm coat and bring a comfortable lawn chair, and spend some time out there.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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