Earth is bracing for a significant solar storm expected to strike on Thursday morning, potentially lighting up skies as far south as Alabama, according to U.S. forecasters. As the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year activity cycle, this event could bring both spectacular auroras and potential disruptions.
In recent months, the planet has witnessed heightened solar activity. In May, the most powerful geomagnetic storms in two decades produced vivid auroras across skies far from the poles.
“The current anticipation is that it is going to arrive tomorrow morning to midday, Eastern time, and perhaps continue on into the following day,” said Shawn Dahl of the Space Weather Prediction Center during a briefing on Wednesday.
The solar event, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), is hurtling through space at an astonishing 4 million kilometers per hour. In response, the agency has issued a level 4 geomagnetic storm watch (G4), one level below the highest possible G5 seen in May. However, Dahl cautioned that the final impact could be either below or above G4.
Due to the unpredictable nature of CMEs, better predictions aren’t possible until 15 to 30 minutes before impact, when the storm crosses tracking satellites located a million miles from Earth.
Dahl noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), already under pressure dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and the approaching Hurricane Milton, has been notified. Companies operating the North American power grid have also been alerted to take necessary mitigation steps.
When CMEs collide with Earth’s magnetosphere, they can trigger geomagnetic storms. These storms have the potential to disrupt satellites orbiting Earth, affecting radio signals and GPS systems. In severe cases, they can even knock out electricity grids. The “Halloween Storms” of October 2003, for instance, caused blackouts in Sweden and damaged power infrastructure in South Africa.
May’s storms disrupted precision GPS systems used by U.S. farmers across the Midwest and caused some high-voltage transformers to trip, though large-scale disruption to the grid was avoided.
“Around 5,000 satellites had to have their orbital level corrected,” Dahl explained, “because the storm inflates the ionosphere and causes them to slow down and de-orbit.”
For skywatchers in the right latitudes—potentially as far south as northern California or Alabama in the U.S.—the upcoming storm could provide a rare opportunity to witness the aurora borealis in unusual locations. Experts advise seeking out the darkest skies possible, away from city lights, to enhance visibility.
Photography enthusiasts might have an advantage. “Use your cameras or phones to look,” suggested Dahl, “because today’s digital imagery can often pick up auroras even when the naked eye cannot.”
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
