Northern Lights Georgia can we see them again tonight May 11th

ATLANTA — The Northern Lights showed up Friday night for a spectacular and rare show across much of the world, including as far away as Georgia and even Florida — and there could be a second act on the way tonight.

That’s because there is a G5 geomagnetic storm sighting across the United States, the first time it has happened here since 2003. Also known as the Northern Lights, the Northern Lights are most commonly found often in high latitude regions such as the Arctic and Antarctica. .

RELATED: Northern lights can be seen in metro Atlanta! See all photos from those across the state

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s NWS Space Weather Prediction Center, this “extreme geomagnetic storm is continuing and will persist at least through Sunday.”

“Overnight, aurora was visible across much of the United States,” says a graphic from the NOAA NWS Space Weather Prediction Center released Saturday morning. “If weather permits, they may be visible again this evening.”

So what does this mean for Georgia?

11Alive meteorologist Melissa Nord explains:

“People ask me: If I missed it last night, can I see the Northern Lights tonight?

“Maybe. But maybe not either. It depends on how strong the solar storm is tonight.

“IF G5 continues tonight, the Northern Lights could be visible again in the southern states. It’s G5 this morning but it’s broad daylight. Fingers crossed! We’ll see…”

Every time it gets dark. As detailed above, whether they are visible or not will depend on the intensity of the geomagnetic storm – and it is very difficult to predict how long that intensity will last.

We’ll have to wait and see!

If you look north in the sky and see faint hues of red, purple, pink or green, these are the Northern Lights.

To your naked eye, it won’t look exactly like the images you’re probably familiar with of the Northern Lights, for example in Alaska or Finland.

But if you use a longer exposure camera – iPhones have this feature, for example – you’ll get the stunning images we saw people send last night.

News comes quickly. Stream it faster with our redesigned 11Alive+ app.

Watch TV news, breaking news and get the latest sports, weather and VERIFY content, 24/7. Available on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. Text “more” to 404-885-7600 to download 11Alive+ and stream now.