Colorado Aurora Update: The Northern Lights could be visible again Friday night in the Front Range, but it’s no guarantee they will show!

The Northern Lights put on a spectacular show across the Front Range Thursday night, and there’s a chance for an encore performance tonight! While the display is not likely to be as intense or widespread Friday night, mostly clear skies and comfortable temperatures will make it a perfect evening to try your luck in the Denver Metro area. Read on for our team’s recommendation on the best time and place to head out to take in the Northern Lights Friday night in Colorado!

he Northern Lights definitely wowed residents of the Front Range Thursday night — and let’s be real, pretty much the entire continental United States! The most vibrant display seems to have occurred between 7 and 8:30PM Mountain time, just after dipped below the western horizon. Some parts of the Denver Metro area were still fighting with lingering cloud cover and smoke during this time — while that may seem less than ideal, it only added to the ambiance of the light show at hand! As long as you weren’t too far west in the state where clouds were moving in quick, you likely saw at least some type of aurora Thursday night  as long as you took the initiative to peer skyward! Check out some of the amazing shots taken from around the Metro area last night:

Tonight was better than my experience in May. At points the beams were above my head. Color was discernible to the naked eye too. pic.twitter.com/ny4fzFoUWh

— rightoff (@eRightoff) October 11, 2024

A photo of the northern lights in #Boulder last night from reader Rebecca Sullivan. Did you catch any photos? pic.twitter.com/SQmgzi1SZ8

— Mitchell Byars (@mitchellbyars) October 11, 2024

Just NE of Parker! pic.twitter.com/JUlcPkK6nx

— Nick Smego 🍁🎃👻 (@COWeatherguy) October 11, 2024

amazing substorm a few minutes ago in Colorado #cowx #spwx #aurora pic.twitter.com/dejJ4Bu5go

— Trent (@my__apocalypse) October 11, 2024

While we can’t promise that Mother Nature will deliver quite as amazing of a performance tonight, a strong geomagnetic storm is still ongoing across planet Earth caused by an X-class solar flare a few days ago. Latest forecasts are calling for a less intense display Friday night, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be visible from the low latitudes of Colorado. The NOAA Space Weather Prediction center is forecasting a Kp index of 5 Friday night, with the red “View Line” well up into Wyoming.

For reference, Thursday night’s Kp Index was above 8 during the evening hours when the sky was on ablaze, which rivals the level we saw briefly back in May 2024. A more telling comparison for the potential display Friday night is what unfolded this past Tuesday night which had a Kp index of just below 5. That night there was indeed a faint aurora visible across northern Colorado, but it was harder to spot and required fairly dark skies. The goods news is that if the aurora does show up Friday night to Colorado, the Front Range should have a great view of it!

As of Friday afternoon, there is thick, elevated cloud cover blanketing the area:

However, these clouds are expected to move out within the next several hours with mostly clear skies taking over before sunset and beyond. The GOES-East visible satellite animation below shows the back edge of the clouds already pushing across northwestern sections of the Centennial State:

The latest high-resolution cloud cover forecast from the HRRR model matches up well with those satellite observations. The back edge of the clouds should pass through the Denver area very soon, with mostly clear skies expected until at least midnight. After midnight the next shortwave atmospheric disturbance will be approaching our area from the northwest causing some wave clouds to start forming over the Continental Divide. This particular model keeps the entire Denver Metro area free of clouds overnight, undoubtedly a result of downslope flow. Still, there would be clouds present in all directions around us in this scenario, similar to a donut hole, which could impact the viewability of any distant, low-horizon aurora.

Overall, this should be a fairly good night to see the aurora, with the very important caveat being we’re not 100% certain there will be aurora close enough to see. The best sky conditions will be from sunset to midnight or so, before patches of wave clouds start to develop thereafter. The aurora forecast for Friday night is much more marginal than last night — plan on heading somewhere pretty dark and as far north as possible to increase your chances of catching a glimpse. The best odds will be well north of Cheyenne.

Temperatures will once again be comfortable for viewing this evening, with temperatures generally between 55 and 63°F across the lower elevations. Obviously if you head up into the higher terrain, it will be colder and the “stay warm” requirements will vary…

Below are a few tips to make the most of Mother Nature’s (hopeful) encore performance Friday night. Enjoy the show — if there actually is one!

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BoulderCAST Team

This post had major contributions from at least two members of our team. The more meteorologists the better, right?

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