(NEXSTAR) – It’s been months since the world was hit by the strongest solar radiation storm in decades, bringing the northern lights to much of the U.S. Another storm in space – albeit shaping up to be weaker – is now en route to collide with Earth.
For some states, including Tennessee, that could mean another night of northern lights.
Since Tuesday, three coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have been hurled out by the sun, according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The first “is likely to have an Earth-directed component,” the SWPC explained, while the last is expected to catch up and combine with the first two before arriving here.
“This is a rather complex series of events and circumstances, because there is also a coronal hole high speed stream just south of the source region of the CMEs, and this could deflect energy more northward and above Earth’s orbit,” the SWPC said in a Wednesday night post.
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The complexity makes it difficult to say how strong the storm conditions could be. The stronger the conditions, as well as their timing, would impact your likelihood of seeing the northern lights on Thursday.
What do conditions look like?
It depends on how far north you live and what the CMEs do…