'An Aurora Photographer's Dream' Expected to Start Tonight

Aurora-hunting photographers should be on the lookout over the next couple of nights, as a trio of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) is headed toward Earth, and at least two look destined to make direct impact with Earth’s atmosphere. CMEs hitting Earth are a primary cause of geomagnetic storms, which can give rise to beautiful auroras.

A prior CME already hit Earth during the early morning hours today, November 6, resulting in visible aurora in the northernmost United States. Experts, including those at Spaceweather, believe that the CMEs en route to Earth may intensify storms, which could make auroras visible even farther South.

Space.com adds that the most powerful and fastest of the CMEs is expected to arrive either late tonight or early tomorrow, November 7, and “could trigger strong (G3) geomagnetic storm conditions.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a forecast today, stating that the geomagnetic field is expected to stay elevated from November 6-8. The SWPC says the Kp index, a measure of geomagnetic storm strength that strongly correlates with visible auroras, could reach 7.33 tonight and early tomorrow.

If these forecasts are realized, photographers across Canada, Europe, and much of the northern United States could see beautiful auroras tonight, possibly even in mid-latitude regions.

“A whole train of big solar storms are on their way, along with some smaller storms hitting now, and some fast solar wind!” says space weather expert Dr. Tamitha Skov on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It is an aurora photographer’s dream starting now and lasting at least through the weekend.”

A whole train of big #solarstorms are on their way, along with some smaller storms hitting now, and some fast solar wind! It is an #aurora photographer’s dream starting now and lasting at least through the weekend. Right now, the biggest of the storms should hit late Thursday or… pic.twitter.com/OL50yH72y7

— Dr. Tamitha Skov (@TamithaSkov) November 5, 2025

Dr. Skov adds that the most significant storms are expected to hit late Thursday or early Friday morning. 
Per NOAA SWPC, the auroras could be visible in over 20 states, including Oregon, Idaho, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and all of New England. Sometimes storms turn out to be much stronger than predicted, as happened in 2023, when even photographers in southern California captured the Northern Lights.

Aurora photographers keen to try their luck tonight and over the weekend should be sure to check out PetaPixel‘s comprehensive guide, “How to Find and Photograph the Northern Lights.”

Image credits: Photos by Jeremy Gray