MISSOULA — Heads up Montana – the Space Weather Prediction Center says that a strong geomagnetic storm may create opportunities to see the Aurora Borealis this weekend.

The SWPC is a branch of NOAA that tracks storms in within our solar system. For this upcoming weekend, a G4 watch was issued, which is a rare call. A G4 severe watch has not been issued since January 2005, over 19 years ago.

Here’s a breakdown of why the center made this call:

WHAT – “Several CMEs will quite likely reach Earth and lead to elevated geomagnetic activity.”
EVENT – “A coronal mass ejection (CME) is an eruption of solar material. When they arrive at Earth, a geomagnetic storm can result.”
WHY – “Watches at this level are very rare.”
TIMING – “The CMEs are anticipated to merge and arrive at Earth by late on Friday, May 10th or early on Saturday, May 11th.”
EFFECTS – “The Aurora may become visible over much of the northern half of the country, maybe as far south to Alabama or northern California.”

Basically, Montanans have a better chance to see the Northern Lights between the period of late Friday night – early Saturday morning. There may even be a chance between Saturday night – Sunday morning as well.

The G4 number is subject to change though, so if you want to see the lights, continue to check the SPWC forecast at these sites:

Some general viewing tips if you want to try your luck at seeing the Aurora include heading/looking north to an area with low light pollution and viewing between the hours of 12 AM – 3 AM.
Also, there are many local Aurora Borealis spotter groups on Facebook also that can help guide Montanans once the viewing time draws closer.

Cloud coverage will be minimal this weekend at night, making it easier to spot the lights!

As always, if you take pictures, we would love to share them! Please email your snapshots to – photo@kpax.com.

MISSOULA — In the final few weeks of his college track and field career, Evan Todd is aiming for the picture perfect ending to his senior year with the Montana Grizzlies.

The Kalispell product is already a two-time Big Sky Conference champion in the javelin at Montana, and this weekend he’s looking to make it a three-peat at the outdoor conference championships in Bozeman.

“Just knowing coming into the Big Sky meet, knowing that this isn’t my last meet, but it is the end of the regular season,” Todd said. “Just knowing I got to lay it all on the line for that Big Sky Conference championship, just that means everything.”

Todd’s decorated track and field career at Montana has been cranked up a notch again in his final run.

Just a few weeks ago, the Glacier High grad broke Montana’s school record in the javelin with a throw of 234 feet, 5 inches, in front of friends and family.

“I was talking with my coach earlier in the week. We were kind of debating whether or not he was even going to let me throw or not,” Todd explained. “And then he just texted me one night and he was like, I’ll let you take three throws. And I was like, that’s awesome. Then I texted my parents, they came down, got my parents, my family, friends, they came down for them to be able to witness that on that day was incredible.”

It was another big accomplishment in Todd’s storied career.

But even coming into his final season, Todd kept things level-headed and the same as every season, even with the target on his back growing larger every meet.

“There’s definitely a little bit of a shift where, you know, it’s your last year,” Todd said. “It’s just a little bit different coming into a season knowing that you have another season after that, and you just got a lot down the road. But this year is definitely different knowing that it’s gonna come to an end at some point. And it’s just really about enjoying the ride and seeing the progression throughout the year. It’s really been fun.”

For Todd, being a staple of UM’s program has helped his growth.

Along with his own development mentally and physically as an athlete, he credits being surrounded by other successful competitors within the UM program as a big reason for his improvements each year.

“I think it’s prosperous, just surrounded by success,” Todd said. “And just like when you come into practice every day and you’re surrounded by great people who want to see you succeed, and you want to support each other, and everyone’s doing good, it’s just hard not to want to be great.

“I think I’ve grown a lot mentally. Just being able to take each day as a challenge and just take it day-by-day. Back (when I got to UM) I was a big picture kind of guy, I was looking a long ways down the road. Now, I’ve gotten better at taking things day-by-day, just working through each problem as it is.”

Todd is already qualified for the NCAA West regional — his fourth time qualifying — and there he’ll try to achieve another key goal of his in qualifying for the national championships.

He’s in the home stretch of his college career, one he’s enjoying every step of the way as it winds down.

“It’s just kind of been a joy ride just soaking up this last year having fun with it,” Todd said. “I’ve been through it all with this program, been through the ups and the downs, and highs and lows, and it’s just been awesome to see where this program is at now.”

GREAT FALLS — The spring storm that whipped across Montana this week brought heavy rain, snow, and powerful winds and disrupted utility service to several communities.

NorthWestern Energy crews are working to repair broken power poles, downed power lines, and other damage from the storms and restore service to customers affected by outages.

The utility company said in a news release that some areas will have extended outages.

Service restoration is estimated to be Thursday, May 9, for the rural White Sulphur Springs area.

Power outages in the Monarch and Neihart area are expected to extend at least through the weekend.

Additional personnel and equipment are in these areas to assist with work to restore service as quickly and safely as possible.

You can check NorthWestern Energy’s Outage Map for the most up-to-date information on outages.