Here’s How to See the Northern Lights in SE MN This Weekend

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While we'll all likely see ghosts, ghouls and goblins in our neighborhoods this weekend, you could also see something pretty cool in the skies here in Minnesota.

It looks like Mother Nature is definitely giving us a treat this Halloween weekend here in Minnesota. (Which is much better than the trick she gave us 30 years ago this weekend when the Halloween Blizzard hit the Land of 10,000 Lakes.) Because it looks like there's a pretty decent chance of seeing the Northern Lights in the skies across the North Star State this weekend.

While we usually don't see them here in southeast Minnesota, we just might be able to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights (the Aurora borealis, if you're being scientific) this weekend. There's no promise, of course, but various sources (like KTTC's Nick Jansen) are saying conditions might be favorable for us to take in some Northern Light action this weekend.

Here in our neck of the woods, the Northern Lights are likely to appear as a greenish, purple or pink coloring on the horizon. However, if you happen to be heading up north this weekend, where there are fewer city lights, you might be able to see even more of those brilliant colors, which could also appear to pulse or dance, along the sky.

So what causes the Northern Lights? According to the Northern Lights Centre, the bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere.

KTTC Meteorologist Amanda Morgan says a solar flare Thursday could make them visible perhaps Friday night into Saturday, with a better likelihood of seeing them  Saturday night into Sunday. She suggests keeping a lookout on the northern sky, preferably away from as many city lights as possible.

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