NOAA Flags G1 Aurora Risk for Michigan as Kp 5 Storm Pushes Lights Farther South

10 articles · Updated · Detroit Free Press · May 18

Northern Michigan — and possibly much of the Lower Peninsula — could see the aurora late Monday if skies clear, with the best viewing usually within one to two hours of midnight.
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center rated the event a G1 geomagnetic storm with a Kp index around 5, enough to make auroras visible south of where they appear directly overhead.
The strongest odds are over Canada and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but the same storm could also bring sightings to parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Dark-sky sites such as Headlands, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Pictured Rocks and Keweenaw offer the best chance in Michigan, and phone night mode can capture auroras that are hard to see unaided.
The display is being driven by solar activity — earlier forecasts cited three coronal mass ejections and a fast solar wind stream headed toward Earth.

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