The sun, in its active solar cycle, continues to impress this year. A coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading towards Earth after a pretty big solar flare two days ago. NOAA models forecast the arrival to Earth’s magnetic field Thursday evening and overnight.
As usual, the CME has to align with our magnetic field in just the right way, but for reasons that are complicated and worth a whole article in itself, Autumn is an easier time to get what would otherwise be a less spectacular event to become more vibrant. The KP index is forecast to reach 6.67 Thursday from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. and reach as high 7.0 Friday from about 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The magic number for the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota is a KP index of 6. When we reach that value or higher, a G3, moderate to strong solar storm is forecast and the auroras can be visible as far south as Iowa and Illinois.
NOAA
As usual, try to get away from urban areas with city lights. Auroras are often somewhat faint so you want the skies to be as dark as possible. Of course you also want the skies to be as clear from cloud cover as possible (or wildfire smoke).