(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) — An unusually strong Earth-bound solar storm could produce northern lights across the U.S. this weekend and potentially disrupt power and communications.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare geomagnetic storm warning — the first in nearly 20 years. This was expected to become a warning on Friday night, when the effects of the solar flare were expected to reach Earth.
NOAA has already warned operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions.
“As for the worst-case scenario expected here on Earth, it’s hard to say and I wouldn’t want to speculate about it,” said Shawn Dahl, NOAA space meteorologist. “However, the severe level is quite extraordinary. It is a very rare event to happen.”
NOAA said the Sun produced strong solar flares starting Wednesday, resulting in five plasma explosions capable of disrupting orbiting satellites and power grids here on Earth. Each eruption – known as a coronal mass ejection – can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.
The flares appear to be associated with a sunspot 16 times the diameter of Earth, according to NOAA. An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003 knocked out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.
The latest storm could produce northern lights in the southernmost US, Alabama and northern California, according to NOAA.
The most intense solar storm recorded in history, in 1859, caused auroras in Central America and possibly even Hawaii. “This is an extreme level event,” Dahl said. “We’re not predicting that,” but it could come close.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
