Get ready for a show. Halloween weekend is packed with tricks, treats, and an absolutely amazing light display courtesy of the aurora borealis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to take a trip to Iceland just to see the Northern Lights this weekend. Sky-watchers in the northern United States will get a view of the dramatic dazzlers on Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/a> (NOAA), the weekend forecast shows a \u201clow\u201d likelihood of visibility in northern Wyoming, northern Washington, northern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, northern South Dakota, parts of Minnesota, Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula, and possibly Wisconsin. If you\u2019re lucky enough to live in Alaska, you have a \u201chigh\u201d likelihood of seeing the Northern Lights.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even though NOAA\u2019s current prediction map does not show the aurora directly over all of these areas, the agency notes that the light show can be observed from up to 1,000 km (just over 621 miles) away.\u00a0<\/p>\n What is the aurora borealis?<\/p>\n The aurora, or the light created when electrons from space collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere, occurs when the solar wind and the Earth\u2019s magnetic field (magnetosphere) interact. This results in an almost flowy haze of purple, green, yellow, pink, red, or blue light that\u2019s visible from the Earth\u2019s surface. Different atomic and molecular energy levels produce different hues. While it\u2019s possible to see any color of the aurora, pale green is the most common, according to NOAA<\/a>.<\/p>\n The aurora borealis is visible in the northern hemisphere, while the aurora australis (a.k.a. the Southern Lights) is visible in the southern hemisphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why are the Northern Lights visible in the United States?<\/p>\n Increased geomagnetic activity causes the aurora to appear brighter and makes the lights visible further from the poles. When this happens, you can see the northern lights in the northern U.S. In May of 2024, the strongest geomagnetic storm<\/a> in more than two decades caused a spectacular sight as far south as Iowa.\u00a0<\/p>\n How to watch the Northern Lights on Halloween weekend?<\/p>\n Per NOAA<\/a>, the Northern Lights are not visible during the day. That means you\u2019ll have to wait until after sunset to check out the show. Auroras are best viewed between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. To maximize your chances of seeing this show clearly, NOAA suggests finding a dark space away from city lights.\u00a0<\/p>\n Check NOAA\u2019s \u201cauroraview\u201d website for up-to-date information on when and where the aurora borealis is visible. The Space Weather Prediction Center<\/a> provides a 30- to 90-minute forecast model.<\/p>\n This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Oct 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get ready for a show. Halloween weekend is packed with tricks, treats, and an absolutely amazing light display…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-902353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}