Rare chance to see the northern lights

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN — If you've never seen the Northern lights, tomorrow morning could be your chance.

If the clouds part there's a good chance we could be treated to a show by the auroras Thursday morning before sunrise.

The National Weather Service out of the U.S. says conditions are favourable following a solar flare and solar radiation storm that will make the Northern lights visible at a lower latitude than normal.

NASA notes the first significant solar flare of the year peaked on Jan. 7 on the heels of a mid-level flare earlier in the day. These flares are powerful bursts of radiation but are not able to pass through the Earth's atmosphere to affect humans on the ground, though it can disturb GPS and communications signals while the flare is occurring.

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