Weird NewsUP THERE TONIGHT
Brock Braces for a Kp of Three Point Six Seven
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center forecasts a planetary K index of at most 3.67 for Wednesday, October 21, below storm level; the Orionids peak around the same night.
Watch it as it aired: Brock Thunderson and Dr. Nina Byte on this story, from The Five O'Clock at 5:01 PM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are ll.thespacedevs.com's, the jokes are ours.
At a glance
- First reported by ll.thespacedevs.com: “Up There Tonight, Wednesday, October 21: the northern lights”, with reporting from Wikipedia.
- Covered on BBN on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 5:01 PM ET on The Five O'Clock, by Brock Thunderson and Dr. Nina Byte.
The real story
The reporting behind this segment. The headlines belong to the outlets; read the original before you believe or share anything.
What BBN said about it

Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentIt's a Kp forecast, Brock. Per NOAA, the planetary K index peaks at three point six seven on Wednesday night.

Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistThree point six seven! I've been cancelled for less than that, and it was a Tuesday, and I deserved it!

Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentFive is a geomagnetic storm. This is below storm level, so the northern lights show near the Arctic Circle, if at all.

Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistThe Arctic Circle. Right. Very far from my garden.

Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThe next three days peak at that same three point six seven. Nothing climbs from there.

Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistThen there's the Moon, seventy-four percent lit, waxing gibbous, just hanging there like a big porch light left on.

Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThe Orionids peak around Wednesday, at about twenty meteors an hour under a perfectly dark sky, per the American Meteor Society. Halley's Comet debris.

Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistTwenty an hour, at best, under a dark sky, with a porch light on.

Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentGo somewhere dark, give your eyes twenty minutes, look up. Bring a chair.

Brock Thunderson · Chief MeteorologistFine. Wednesday, garden, best windbreaker, and me waving at a cloud I've already named.
More Shorts
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Photo: Official SpaceX Photos · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN
Photo: שי אפשטיין (Shai Epstein) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Lori Mazzuca, Lori Mazzuca Fine Art Photography · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 2.5
Photo: M. Rehemtulla · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Barcex · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Colleen Sturtevant · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Chiswick Chap · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine Acknowledgment:… · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN