There's a possibility that viewers in the southwest US and northern Mexico will see a Minuteman launch lit by sunlight this evening (if the marine layer clears--Southern California residents may have to get away from the beach). If so, it usually makes for a spectacular sight.

The launch window opens at 7 PM PDT. If it's delayed more than twenty minutes, it will still go (the window stays open until 10 PM) but it will be in the dark. Still worth watching, but not as beautiful.

[Update at 8:37 PM PDT]

Doug Jones from XCOR, up in the desert, in Mojave (where they weren't socked in by the marine layer) reports:

We had a splendid view from Mojave, looking into a darkening sky after sunset. Great "frozen lightning" and the high-altitude expansion of the plume grew to about 20 degrees across the sky. Too bad our professional photographer wasn't on hand.

There's still a faint fluorescing green patch remaining. World War III would be beautiful...

Only if it occurred at sunset or sunrise...

Is there a site somewhere that will have info if the launch does get delayed? In case I miss it at 7ish, that way I won't have to watch all night. :)

Not that I know of, unfortunately. The Air Force rarely releases much more information than the launch window itself. Unless you know someone who is actually working the launch, it's very difficult to get any info in real time.

My rule is that, if it doesn't go at the beginning of the window, there's no predicting when it will, and it's not worth watching for. But particularly after the twenty minutes, I wouldn't bother.

This site http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp

has a detailed list gleaned from many sources, and a newsletter http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp/newsletter.htm to keep you up to date. I got an alert from them Saturday and again today, and the launch was beatiful, with frozen lightning, the expanding plume at high altitude, and the four-lobed exhaust from the multiple nozzles clearly visible.

(email spamblocked)

I got to watch a few THAAD launches (and one intercept) at White Sands in the pre-dawn darkness. The clarity of the night and the silence are just breathtaking. I only got to see one intercept (had to babysit the kid while the wife was in France during the other) but it will stick in my memory for a long time. The first thing illuminated by the sun is the exhaust plumes that get twisted around by wind shear.