The northern lights are one of the most popular travel destinations around the world and for Pennsylvanians; it has been a popular internet search topic.

Interest in the Aurora Borealis escalated after several users on the social media forecasted the visibility of Northern lights in Pennsylvania from November 2015.

The Aurora Borealis appears due to the collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere and charged particles released by the sun. The lights did not make it as far south as Pennsylvania in 2015.

A minor solar storm failed to escalate as had been expected and did not deliver enough charged particles to boost the northern lights that was not enough for as far south as Pennsylvania.

The strength of these lights on Earth is measured by the Kp index. A Kp of 7 is needed to view the aurora in northern Pennsylvania and 8 is needed for viewing in southern Pennsylvania.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Kp in Novermber 2015 never passed Kp 5.

The strength was enough to provide a show for sky watchers in northern states in Pennsylvania. But a solar storm in 2015 has no actual relevance in April this year, no matter how many times social media users’ link to it.

This year the Kp will rise no further than 4 and will mostly remain at 2 or 3 throughout the weekend said Aurora Service (North America), which is a volunteer network that monitors and forecast solar activity and northern lights.

The strength will not be enough to push the show anywhere near Pennsylvania this year.

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