Forecasters predicted that an aurora, or northern lights display, will be visible to a larger swath of the United States than usual, due to the first geomagnetic storm of this magnitude in almost 20 years.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its first severe G4 geomagnetic storm watch since 2005. This watch came after the administration saw at least seven coronal mass ejections from the sun, which will result in explosions of plasma and magnetic fields across Earth’s atmosphere. These fields tend to interfere with satellite operations such as the electric power grid, navigation, and radio but also result in an aurora.
“This is an unusual and potentially historic event,” NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center Director Clinton Wallace said in a statement.
As many CMEs were recorded, the NOAA predicts aurora displays through Monday, but the strongest will come Friday night and Saturday morning.
“The aurora tonight/tomorrow morning may become visible over much of the northern half of the country, and maybe as far south as Alabama to northern California,” the National Weather Service wrote on X.
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The storm is expected to begin around 8 p.m. EDT.
Typically, Alaska is the state that experiences the most northern lights displays. This is due to the geomagnetic particle ring that is constantly surrounding the Arctic Circle, which makes the aurora borealis most visible. The same occurs in Australia due to a similar ring around the Antarctic Circle, producing the aurora australis.
