What To Look For UP North This Year, 2025

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There are a LOT of things to do up north in "God's Country".  So many places to visit and things to see.  Beauty abounds everywhere you look.  Millions of visitors travel up north every year to witness spectacular events and nature as only the Great Lakes region can deliver.  This year, 2025, will be no different.

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Witness the Aurora Borealis

 

The solar maximum is a period of increased solar activity that occurs roughly every 11 years. During this time, the northern lights (aurora borealis) are more frequent and vibrant.   It is said that we are at the peak of this cycle, 2024/2025, and many people have witnessed the northern lights as far south as Louisiana.  This happened twice in 2024; once in May and once again in October.  This year, we are expecting to see them yet again on a grand scale.

 

The Solar Maximum is when the sun’s magnetic field flips between north and south. It is the result of immense forces that build up in the sun over the course of 11 years, the approximate length of a Solar Cycle.  The Solar cycle, also known as the solar magnetic activity cycle, is a periodic change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of variations in the number of observed sunspots on the Sun's surface.

When the Solar Maximum occurs, there are usually a greater number of sunspots on the sun’s surface. By contrast, the Solar Minimum, which is at the beginning and end of each solar cycle, has fewer sunspots. 

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Scientists at both NASA and NOAA have confirmed that the Sun has reached its solar maximum period, which could continue for another 12 months. But we won’t know when the Solar Maximum has reached its peak until about six months after it passes.​

 

Around the Maximum, auroral activity surges, and then gradually begins to decrease in the following years. Scientists predict that this Maximum could have a long tail, offering several seasons of particularly rough space weather, and that’s ideal for aurora-chasers.

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Click here to see when is the best chance you have to view the lights and when.