Northern lights in Florida? There’s a chance tonight

Could the northern lights strike twice for Tallahassee?

Florida’s capital city could be treated to a second showing of the aurora borealis, though local National Weather Service forecasters say to keep your expectations low, but hopes high.

The chance comes, according to USA TODAY, because of another powerful solar eruption hurtling across the cosmos toward Earth, bearing with it the potential to create striking auroras in the night sky around the planet.

The dazzling display of green and red hues also known as the aurora borealis can occur further south due to a “severe” geomagnetic storm forecasted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A coronal mass ejection of plasma clouds and charged particles driving the storm prompted NOAA’s Space Prediction Center to issue a rare G4 geomagnetic storm watch for the second time this year.

The last time such a watch occurred, on May 10, is when Tallahassee got its peek.

Coincidentally, tonight’s solar storm comes just hours after a monster storm, Hurricane Milton, devastated central Florida. The last bout of northen lights in the Deep South came hours after another national disaster, the great Tallahassee tornado outbreak.

Ratcheting up the hope a little, local meteorologist Wright Dobbs snapped a photo of the light show above Bainbridge, Ga.,, just 40 miles from Tallahassee, early Thursday evening.

How to watch and the best timeframe

In their social media post, NWS forecasters explained that “if auroras can reach this far south, they’re typically very dim” so the best way to see them is long exposure photography; taking a photo from your phone in night mode works just the same.

To get to the full experience it would be best to get away from the city lights and to a location with dark skies.

As for the best timeframe?

“Unfortunately, predicting the timing of auroras is much harder than predicting the weather,” NWS forecasters say. “Best advice is to get to a dark sky and be out for several hours as the aurora can come and go in the span of an hour.”

Overnight there’s only 5% cloud cover in Tallahassee with temps in the 70s and falling into the 60s.

“Will we see something like this again?” the agency wrote on Facebook. “No one knows for sure, but at least the weather will be nice!”

Tips for Northern Lights spotting in the South

It is difficult to see it with the naked eye in Florida, though if your eyes get accustomed to the dark you may be able to see the telltale pink hue.

Shoot a photo of the sky with your phone in night mode, she says.

“The yellow icon in the top left of your phone needs to be yellow and flash off,” said Tallahassee Democrat photojournalist Alicia Devine. “When you take a pic you’ll have to hold the phone steady for three seconds for the shutter to fully complete the image.”

Arianna Otero is the City Solutions Reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com or on Twitter/X: @ari_v_otero.