Colorful auroras could be visible in areas of the United States on Wednesday evening due to a solar storm, according to the National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The auroras could dance in the skies much farther south than they typically appear.
“The aurora may become visible over many of the northern states and some of the lower Midwest to Oregon,” according to the center.
Officials at the center initially issued a strong geomagnetic storm watch Tuesday after multiple coronal mass ejections released from the sun on Sunday and arrived at Earth earlier than expected. The center later confirmed that the storm reached G4, or severe, storm conditions at 4:55 p.m. Wednesday and upgraded to a severe geomagnetic storm watch.
The severe solar storm, initially classified as a level 3 on a scale from 1 to 5 and now classified as level 4, could also disrupt communications, the power grid and satellite operations, according to the center.
Coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, are large clouds of ionized gas called plasma and magnetic fields that erupt from the sun’s outer atmosphere. When these outbursts are directed at Earth, they can cause geomagnetic storms, or major disturbances of Earth’s magnetic field.
Minor to strong geomagnetic storm conditions are likely to persist through Thursday, the center’s officials said, which means that if conditions are cloudy tonight, auroras may be visible Thursday night as well, according to EarthSky.
The sun is currently experiencing solar maximum, or the peak in its 11-year cycle, and as the sun becomes more active, researchers have observed increasingly intense solar flares and coronal mass ejections erupting from the fiery orb.
Increased solar activity causes auroras that dance around Earth’s poles, known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis, and southern lights, or aurora australis. When the energized particles from coronal mass ejections reach Earth’s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere to create those different colored lights in the sky.
A rare extreme geomagnetic storm, or level 5, hit Earth in May 2024, causing colorful auroral displays in parts of the world that rarely glimpse them. During the May geomagnetic storm, tractor company John Deere reported that some customers reliant on GPS for precision farming experienced a disruption. But for the most part, power grid and satellite operators kept satellites in order and properly in orbit and managed the buildup of intense geomagnetic currents on the grid systems.
A severe geomagnetic storm, or level 4, also triggered auroras over much of the United States last October.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials recommend using the center’s aurora dashboard to find out whether northern and southern lights are predicted to be visible in your area. The dashboard is constantly updated and can show where an aurora may appear within minutes of the information becoming available.
And even if the colorful displays don’t seem apparent to the naked eye, sensors in cameras and cell phone cameras can pick them up, center officials said.
The post Solar storm could bring auroras farther south over the US than they typically appear appeared first on CNN.
