A severe solar storm is expected to supercharge the northern lights on Friday, May 10, 2024. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm watch for the first time in nearly 20 years due to this event. According to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, at least five coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are expected to be directed toward Earth, with their arrival starting as early as midday on Friday and persisting through Sunday. These geomagnetic storms can cause widespread voltage control problems, orientation issues for spacecraft, and potentially trigger protective systems to trip out key assets from the grid. The northern lights or aurora borealis could be seen as far south in the United States as Alabama and northern California.
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center explained that a series of solar flares and eruptions from the sun could trigger these severe geomagnetic storms, which are known to disrupt communications and power grids on Earth, as well as satellites in space. Shawn Dahl, a service coordinator at the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, said that forecasters predict the storm could arrive as soon as about 8 p.m. ET on Friday.
The northern lights typically light up the night sky at high latitudes but can be spotted farther south during intense periods of solar activity. These displays are created when clouds of charged particles from the sun slam into Earth's magnetic field and interact with the atoms and molecules in the planet's upper atmosphere.
NOAA, NASA, Space.com, CBS News, SpaceWeather.com, and other sources reported on this unusual solar event. Power plants, spacecraft in orbit, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency were alerted to take precautions.
