Northern Lights Visible in the Evansville Area Jan. 19 & 20

If you are brave enough to venture out into the cold, you could catch a glimpse of a pretty spectacular night sky in the Evansville area tonight.

The northern lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, are typically something that folks in the northernmost parts of North America get to see. It's a bucket-list item for many folks who aren't accustomed to seeing them regularly. Seeing the northern lights is something that I have always wanted to see. We've had the chance to see them a few times in recent memory here in the Evansville area, but each time, I failed to see them. I must be doing something wrong, I guess.

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What Are The Northern Lights?

The Aurora Borealis is a result of geomagnetic storms caused by the sun. Essentially, Earth's sky has charged particles from the sun that collide with gases in Earth's atmosphere. This collision causes the gases to emit light that creates a beautiful light show that dances in the night sky.

Northern Lights in the Evansville Area on January 19th and 20th

Forecasters issued a severe G4 geomagnetic storm watch for January 20th in response to the large solar flare and CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) on Sunday. As it turns out, we in the Evansville area could be able to see them with the naked eye. Now, you might want to know what the best time is to bundle up and go out in the cold to try to see them. Well, that's where it gets a little tricky.  The current expectation would be for this to play out late tonight (January 19th) into early Tuesday morning (January 20th), according to a post by Meteorologist Eric Snitil.

If there are no clouds, get outside and look! However, you will want to bundle up, as it will be very cold overnight. So, if you want to try to catch a glimpse, you are going to want to look to the north horizon this evening. There's a high possibility that they will be visible to the naked eye once again tonight. However, you will be able to see the colors much better through your phone camera.

How to Capture the Northern Lights on Your Camera

If, by chance, we can't see them with the naked eye, there's still hope that your camera or your phone might be able to capture the northern lights. Evansville/Vanderburgh County Emergency Management Agency shared some information on how you can set your camera/phone to capture the auroras. You can see that below: