NEGAUNEE, Mich. (WZMQ) – The Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, is in a peak period right now following an 11-year-long cycle with the sun. Solar Cycle 25 began in 2019 and will last roughly 11 years. As of right now, the Earth is reaching the peak of the season, and as a result, more sunspots can form on the sun.
“So these little pockets will form and they send out flares or coronal mass ejections we call them towards the earth if the spots are facing the earth and that’s what leads to our geomagnetic storms our solar storms and the northern lights that we can see at our altitude,” commented National Weather Service Meteorologist Matt Zika.
NWS said the storm last week came as a result of a massive sunspot, which they expect to make a full rotation around the sun in a couple of weeks.
