An evening stroll in Rhode Island holds so much promise, especially if we enjoy staring up at the starry sky. We can look for the constellations, wish upon a shooting star (if we’re lucky), and, if we’re fortunate enough, we might even see the Northern Lights in 2024 in Rhode Island. The coming year might give many Americans who live in and above the 40th parallel the unique opportunity to see this natural phenomenon.

A natural phenomenon that transforms the nighttime sky into a colorful light show, the Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, are most commonly seen in, among others, Alaska, Iceland, Sweden, and Canada. This year, however, more people than ever before may have the opportunity to see this unique display.

Although we’ve all likely heard of the Northern Lights, we might not know why they occur. The National Park Service states that aurora borealis “occurs when a coronal mass ejection (CME), a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields, interacts with elements in the earth's atmosphere.”

The sun creates around three CMEs daily during solar maximum as solar winds travel from the sun toward Earth at around one million miles an hour. The electrons, when coming into the earth’s upper atmosphere, meet atoms of oxygen and nitrogen at heights of between 20 and 200 miles above the earth.

During solar minimum, CMEs are created at a rate of one every five days.

Solar maximum is the busiest part of the solar cycle when solar activity is at its greatest. A solar cycle generally lasts 11 years.

The height at which the electrons strike either the oxygen or the nitrogen atoms, and which type of atom is struck, determine the color – green, red, blue, or purple – of the aurora.

Scientists believe that due to increased, strengthened activity during the current solar cycle, the Northern Lights will be visible in more states than usual, with the peak expected during the fall of 2024.

That means the Northern Lights may be visible in those states, including Rhode Island (and the rest of New England), above the 40th parallel.

Check out the NOAA Aurora 30-Minute Forecast for the most up-to-date information on where the Northern Lights are expected next. You might also want to download the My Aurora Forecast and Alerts app or the Aurora Alerts app.

Have you seen the Northern Lights from Rhode Island in the past? Where were you? What did you think? Share your experience in the comments! If we’re lucky, we might be able to see the Northern Lights in 2024 in Rhode Island. For some of the darkest skies in Rhode Island, and perhaps an ideal spot to view the Northern Lights, head over to Ninigret Park in Charlestown. You might also want to bring a pair of binoculars to get a closer look at the starry sky.