||| FROM AXIOS SEATTLE |||
No need to go out of your way for a northern lights show that will not be anything special in Seattle or anywhere else this week.
Driving the news: A story that went viral about the aurora borealis being visible in 17 states due to a solar storm is not accurate, according to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute that was widely cited as the source.
- The Geophysical Institute does not make aurora predictions, according to a statement sent to Axios from research associate professor Don Hampton, a space physicist at the Institute.
- Aurora predictions are issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, but the current numbers for Wednesday and Thursday actually show relatively low levels of activity.
Fooled! I thought there must have been a breakthrough in forecasting to allow this prediction but apparently it was just BS. It’s easy to believe what we want to be true, even when another part of us is skeptical…