A “severe” solar storm could make the northern lights visible in the U.S. farther south than usual while also posing the potential to disrupt modern technology, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
A fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME) — a powerful burst of magnetized plasma from the sun’s corona — erupted from the sun on Tuesday night, prompting NOAA’s Space Prediction Center to issue a rare G4 geomagnetic storm watch, indicating “detrimental impacts” to critical technology and possible widespread voltage control problems, according to NOAA.
The CME is expected to cause a moderate solar storm here on Earth on Thursday and Friday, according to NOAA.
A solar, or geomagnetic, storm occurs when the charged particles within solar wind interact with Earth’s magnetic field, causing a significant disturbance, according to NASA.
One of the most common manifestations of a CME’s impact on Earth are the emergence of aurora borealis, or northern lights. The interaction between the CME and Earth’s magnetic field, or magnetosphere, creates ribbons of light in the far northern skies that glow green, pink and other colors
The stronger the solar storm, the father south the northern lights can be seen. But the farther south you go, a more reddish hue is visible rather than green, because the curvature of the Earth causes the particles to interact higher in the atmosphere.
The northern lights will likely be visible over much of the northern half of the U.S. on Thursday and could extend as far south as Alabama to Northern California, according to NOAA.
NOAA ranks geomagnetic storms on a five-point scale, with those rated G5, the strongest, being capable of widespread voltage control problems that could lead to power blackouts or even the complete collapse of some power grid systems. In this scenario, auroras could possibly be seen as far south as Florida and southern Texas.
Intense geomagnetic storms can also bombard Earth with subatomic particles, potentially disrupting navigation systems by interfering with radio and GPS signals and electric power networks, according to NOAA.
Geomagnetic storms can also add energy to currents in Earth’s magnetic field that can increase distribution of density in the upper atmosphere and cause extra drag on low-orbiting satellites.
Everyday life is typically not severely affected, and power grids are equipped to handle slight disruptions to anomalous activity on high-voltage transmission lines, Shawn Dahl, coordinator for NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, told ABC News earlier this year.
Last month, the northern lights display stretched as far south as Arizona, Mississippi and Texas. Earlier this week, aurora borealis could be seen in Alaska.
This busy series of northern lights activity will soon come to a peak as the sun reaches its solar maximum stage in the coming months.
Every 11 years, the sun’s magnetic field reaches its solar maximum, in which the number of solar flares is at its highest, according to NOAA.
Earth is currently approaching the peak of Solar Cycle 25, in which more sunspots with intense magnetic activity are expected.
Impactful space weather events are possible throughout 2024, with the current cycle expected to peak between November 2024 and March 2026, according to NOAA.
