November 7, 2024


A “severe” geomagnetic storm and auroral displays of the northern lights far into the southern US could occur Thursday after charged solar particles slam into Earth, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center warned.

The center warned to the approach of an enormous mass of charged solar particles that later eject from the sun reporting that the coronal mass ejection hit Earth at 11:15 a.m. ET on Thursday. A “severe” G4 class geomagnetic storm remained likely.

The solar flare is categorized as An X 1.8 class solar flarewhich is the strongest type of flare that the sun can emit.

The agency said “storms of this magnitude can disrupt power grids, knock satellites off course, interfere with GPS navigation” and damage critical infrastructure technology.

The agency initially said it would not know the characteristics of the eruption until it reached 1 m miles from Earth and its speed and magnetic intensity were measured by satellites.

On Thursday, it confirmed that “the expected coronal mass ejection (CME) arrived at Earth at 11:15 a.m. EDT at nearly 1.5 million miles per hour.”

According to Noaa, on Thursday the northern lights “could become visible over much of the northern half of the country, and perhaps as far south as Alabama into northern California”.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – a fast-moving clump of plasma – can cause major disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field. The sun has an 11-year activity cycle and scientists believe it is approaching a peak when solar flares, CMEs and auroras become more common.

Last year, the Space Weather Prediction Center released a “revised forecast” for the current solar cycle, stating that the upcoming solar maximum would arrive sooner than they previously predicted and be more explosive than they initially predicted.

The sun’s current cycle, Solar Cycle 25, officially began in early 2019 and was predicted to reach its peak next year. But in an updated forecast the agency said “solar activity will increase faster and peak at a higher level” and the solar maximum is likely to start between January and October this year.



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