The US Raises ‘Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch’ – First Alert in Nearly 20 Years

The sun will be sending Earth a lot of static in the coming days, but on the plus side, the Northern Lights could be visible from Alabama.

On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch Thursday, according to an NOAA news release.

The alert is the first issued since 2005.

The alert is triggered by solar activity in the form of solar flares and what are called coronal mass ejections. In trying to put the science in layman’s terms, spaceweather,com explains that “If geomagnetic storms were hurricanes, ‘severe’ would be category 4.”

The geomagnetic disruptions will reach Earth as early as noon Eastern Time on Friday and could continue through the weekend, means that people in California and Alabama may have a chance to see the Northern Lights.

Are you ready? The aurora will be visible for much of the northern U.S. Friday night thanks to a strong geomagnetic storm headed toward Earth:https://t.co/tGwZzkXyb1

— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) May 9, 2024

The NOAA says that five solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which are “explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona,” are heading toward Earth.

Geomagnetic storms, NOAA says, “can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations”

At the root of the problem is a cluster of sunspots that is 16 times the diameter of Earth, according to the NOAA.

The NOAA said that similar sun storms that took place in 2003 were linked to power outages in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.

Large sunspot groups and strong solar flares led to the issuance of SWPC’s first G4 Watch since 2005… pic.twitter.com/oi55cTPXhP

— NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 9, 2024

Although there has been no specific prediction for this geomagnetic storm, one researcher said solar activity has the potential to disrupt the internet, according to Fox Weather.

“The internet has come of age during a time when the sun has been relatively quiet, and now it’s entering a more active time,” Professor Peter Becker of George Mason University said.

“It’s the first time in human history that there’s been an intersection of increased solar activity with our dependence on the internet and our global economic dependence on the internet,” he said.

GEOMAGNETIC STORM HEADING OUR WAY: NOAA is predicting that we will be hit by a significant geomagnetic storm Friday night into Saturday morning. It is from a coronal mass ejection from the X Flare originating in sunspot region AR3664 this morning. The green dot is Earth. pic.twitter.com/WNVzEMojLx

— Keith Strong (@drkstrong) May 8, 2024

“There have been a lot of (solar) flares,” Becker said. “Flares are when the sun brightens, and we see the radiation, and that’s kind of the muzzle flash. And then the cannon shot is the coronal mass ejection.”

“So, we can see the flash, but then the coronal mass ejection can go off in some random direction in space, but we can tell when they’re actually going to head towards Earth. And that gives us about 18 hours of warning, maybe 24 hours of warning, before those particles actually get to Earth and start messing with Earth’s magnetic field,” he said.

Becker said one massive flare disrupted communications in 1859, although spaceweather.com says this weekend’s geomagnetic storm will not be at that level.