Experience It: Solar Storm Illuminates U.S. Skies with Northern Lights

One of the strongest solar storms in recent history hit Earth and resulted in a colorful heavenly show for much of the United States on Friday night as the northern lights were visible as far south as Florida and Texas.

The unusually powerful geomagnetic storm erupted from a sunspot cluster, which caused the Space Weather Prediction Center to classify it as a G5, or “extreme” storm,” which is the highest level, according to USA Today. The last G5 storm to hit Earth was in 2003.

The Space Weather Prediction Center said in a statement on Saturday morning that the geomagnetic storm resulted in “reports of power grid irregularities and degradation to high-frequency communications and GPS.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the sun flares appear to be associated with a sunspot that is 16 times the diameter of Earth, the Associated Press reported.

Social media was flooded with photos and videos of the aurora dancing over cities and towns from Pittsburgh to Seattle and Detroit to Key Largo, Florida.

I still can’t believe what we all got to witness last night. The Northern Lights. Over #Pittsburgh. I’ve sat outside for hours countless times over the years, even if there was the slightest chance we could see them and have always come up empty. Not last night. Absolutely unreal pic.twitter.com/eIFsw8PG2a

— Dave DiCello (@DaveDiCello) May 11, 2024

And here’s a timelapse video of that epic #NorthernLights dancing above the city of #Seattle last night. What a show, I still can’t believe this happened! #Auroraborealis #wawx pic.twitter.com/2KVr4M7a27

— Sigma Sreedharan (@sigmas) May 11, 2024

It was an incredible night in Northern California! Here’s a rare look at the Northern Lights over Lake Tahoe. (via @abradfordadventure/IG) pic.twitter.com/kjOTcarzgo

— Active NorCal (@ActiveNorCal) May 11, 2024

Northern Lights RIGHT NOW over #KeyLargo Florida, this is insane to see the Aurora Borealis so far south ! pic.twitter.com/iBljm17x82

— Mike Theiss (@MikeTheiss) May 11, 2024

Last night’s Northern Lights in Cleveland, Ohio. pic.twitter.com/Qd5MkXRdX9

— Alex Farmer (@alexfarmerphoto) May 11, 2024

We’ve shared tons and tons of aurora pics this evening on this feed… so folks are probably getting the idea now 🙂 Here’s one last one from a reader flying from Minneapolis back to BWI. An awesome shot to close the night with.

📸Ken Trombatore pic.twitter.com/DP7KCy44JO

— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) May 11, 2024

Here’s our view of the #aurora from the office!🤩#cawx #nvwx pic.twitter.com/s6WUEBJpEE

— NWS Reno (@NWSReno) May 11, 2024

More breathtaking photos of Friday night’s northern lights display were taken by Michigan resident Matt Ervin, who traveled to a dark sky area in northern Lapeer County, Michigan, to capture the rare event.

Northern lights displays could return to much of the U.S. on Saturday night as the geomagnetic storm will continue through at least Sunday, according to the Space and Weather Prediction Center. Being able to see the northern lights also depends on the weather as cloud cover could prevent some people from witnessing the aurora.

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The extreme geomagnetic storm continues and will persist through at least Sunday… pic.twitter.com/GMDKikl7mA

— NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 11, 2024

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