Northern Lights

I've seen them while fishing one spring night in northern NY many years ago. I'm sure you can see them from a lot of the northern states, but probably not with any regularity.

It's at best a fairly uncommon sight in the lower 48. If you get up further north it becomes far more likely that you'll see them. Fairbanks, AK or Whitehorse, YT are good destinations for catching them (during the winter, not so much during the summer due to the lack of night).

Auroral activity tends to be greatest around the equinoxes, but other factors are at least as important. You need a clear, cloudless night. Winter months are better than summer months because of the length of the nights vs. days. The level of recent solar storm activity and related solar phenomena greatly affects the aurora, of course, but is hard or impossible to predict beyond the overall 11 year solar cycles.

missouri dave wrote:
Not sure if this is the right heading to post this under but here goes. I'm fascinated with the northern lights (aurora borealis). I've only seen them once because I live in the deep south. The one time I saw them was in northern Iowa right on the Minnesota line. Having never seen them I was in awe and actually had to ask what they were. I've since found out it was only because of extremely high whatever causes them that the lights were visible that night. My question is, is there anywhere in the lower 48 where the northern lights ARE regularly seen and is it more common at certain times of the year?

There is nowhere in the lower 48 to see them "regularly." Also we are well into solar minimum right now. The output of charged particles from the Sun is very low right now, these particles produce the most vibrant displays. There's lessor displays when a solar flare throws a bunch of radiation our way as well.

Arctic and Antarctic regions can see them more regularly but it's still not a guarantee.

Check these out for more info, you can sign up for alerts for your area as well...

http://spaceweather.com/

https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/aurora-forecast-northern-hemisphere.jpg

The NOAA link, pretty much any green halo means you won't see anything, yellow and red, a better chance.

I saw them at Sun Mountain resort (hotel) in Eastern Washington many years ago. The sky was clear and the resort is out in the middle of nowhere on a hill.
It was amazing.