A Shot At Another Vermont Northern Lights Display Tonight - If It Clears Up

Another shot at northern lights over Vermont tonight?
They could well appear - if the clouds clear up. 

 It looks like Vermont - and much of the rest of the northern hemisphere - has another excellent shot of seeing the northern lights again tonight.  

The sun is very active and yet another geomagnetic storm erupted from the sun, which can cause the aurora. 

I know I indicated in a post last Saturday that these would happen that night, and nothing materialized. 

But Sunday night, Vermont was treated to a brief, big display before a cold front with showers and thunderstorms cut the view short.

But some people in northern New York were able to capture photos of the aurora with lightning flashing in the clouds to the west. Very impressive. 

Last weekend's timing with the northern lights shows that they're not always that predictable.

The big thing potentially blocking the view tonight is clouds. It's been an overcast day across most of the Green Mountain State, and the clouds will be slow to clear tonight. 

The best shot at clearing skies are in the valleys of southwest and southeast Vermont. Also, the later it gets tonight and early tomorrow, the better chances of it clearing up. 

Of course, this is a double-edged sword. If it clears up earlier than expected tonight, we have a greater opportunity for us to see the show. But the earlier it clears up, the greater the chances of it getting cold enough by dawn for a frost that would hurt your late season garden.

Frost advisories are up tonight and early tomorrow for Rutland, Windham and Bennington counties because clouds should break up earlier tonight in those parts of the state. 

Whether or not it's cloudy, the most likely time for the northern lights overnight would be sometime between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.