Friday's severe solar storm expected to intensify northern lights

The Space Weather Prediction Center has issued its inaugural “severe geomagnetic storm watch” since 2005, suggesting the possibility of auroras visible as far south as Alabama.

A potent solar storm is anticipated to intensify the northern lights on Friday, with projections suggesting that auroras might be visible as far south as Alabama in the United States.

On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center announced that a sequence of solar flares and eruptions from the sun could provoke severe geomagnetic storms, resulting in “spectacular displays of aurora” on Earth from Friday evening through the weekend.

This marks the first time since 2005 that the agency has issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch.

Shawn Dahl, a service coordinator at the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, expressed, “We have a rare event on our hands. We’re a little concerned. We haven’t seen this in a long time.”

Due to the potential for strong geomagnetic storms to disrupt communications, power grids, and satellites, Dahl stated that satellite and grid operators have been alerted to prepare for potential impacts.

He added that forecasters anticipate the storm’s onset as early as around 8 p.m. ET on Friday.

Dahl remarked on the uncertainty regarding the timing of these events, emphasizing the vast distance of 93 million miles from the sun to Earth.

To aid in measuring the solar wind and understanding the timing and potential effects more precisely, forecasters will rely on data from a NASA spacecraft called the Advanced Composition Explorer, orbiting approximately 1 million miles from Earth.

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, result from charged particles emitted by the sun during solar storms. These colorful displays occur when clouds of energetic particles collide with Earth’s magnetic field and interact with the atoms and molecules in the planet’s upper atmosphere.

While the northern lights typically illuminate the night sky at high latitudes, during periods of intense solar activity, they can be observed farther south than usual.

According to the forecast from the Space Weather Prediction Center, there’s a chance that auroras could be visible as far south as Alabama and Northern California on Friday night. The center offers an aurora dashboard for short-term forecasts of these natural light displays. For optimal viewing, it’s recommended to find dark locations away from city lights if conditions are clear.

Dahl suggested that smartphones might have the capability to capture imagery of the aurora in southern regions where the human eye fails to perceive any unusual activity.

As reported by the Space Weather Prediction Center, numerous “moderate to strong” solar flares have been identified since Wednesday morning. Solar flares release clouds of plasma and charged particles known as coronal mass ejections into space. The center noted that at least five flares and their associated coronal mass ejections seem to be aimed at Earth.

The statement from the center indicated, “Additional solar eruptions could lead to the persistence of geomagnetic storm conditions throughout the weekend.”

When these phenomena are directed at Earth, they can induce currents on high-voltage transmission lines and pose challenges for transformers on the power grid.

One of the most destructive geomagnetic storms took place in 1989, resulting in approximately 6 million people in Montreal, Canada, losing power for nine hours, as reported by NASA. This event also impacted parts of the northeastern U.S. and Sweden.

In 2002, a coronal mass ejection caused the disruption of 38 commercial satellites.

The sun follows an 11-year cycle from minimum to maximum activity. According to forecasts from NOAA and NASA, the current cycle, which commenced in late 2019, is expected to reach its peak activity in July 2025.

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