{"id":545046,"date":"2026-03-18T18:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T18:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/545046\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T18:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T18:32:19","slug":"geomagnetic-storm-watch-could-bring-northern-lights-to-cochrane-skies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/545046\/","title":{"rendered":"Geomagnetic storm watch could bring northern lights to Cochrane skies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A geomagnetic storm watch has been issued that could bring the northern lights to skies over Cochrane as early as tonight.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says a G2, or moderate, geomagnetic storm is possible on March 19, caused by a burst of solar material that left the sun earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>Local aurora tracker Chris Ratzlaff puts the chances of seeing the lights overhead in Alberta at around 35 per cent late Wednesday into early Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Under these conditions, auroras can appear directly overhead and may even be visible from town.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED STORIES:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cochranenow.com\/articles\/aurora-lights-up-cochrane-night-sky\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aurora lights up Cochrane night sky<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cochranenow.com\/articles\/cool-space-stuff-to-look-forward-to-in-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cool space stuff to look forward to in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Environment Canada is calling for partly cloudy skies Wednesday night, with gusty winds and a low of 3 degrees\u2014conditions that could still allow for some viewing if skies clear.<\/p>\n<p>The Canadian Space Agency says the best chance to catch the northern lights is under dark, clear skies away from city lights, typically a few hours after sunset.<\/p>\n<p>No special equipment is needed\u2014just a bit of patience and a clear view of the sky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A geomagnetic storm watch has been issued that could bring the northern lights to skies over Cochrane as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-545046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}