Thursday evening will bring a stunning display of the aurora borealis, thanks to a powerful eruption from the sun. This colorful sky show may be visible as far south as Alabama and Northern California.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center announced on Thursday that plasma and other material from the sun reached Earth at 11:17 a.m. ET, resulting in what they described as a severe magnetic storm. You can read more about the storm here.
These solar storms occur when a coronal mass ejection from the Sun sends a large cloud of plasma into space, which then interacts with Earth’s magnetic field and upper atmosphere. This interaction produces the glowing auroras that we see in the sky.
The best views of the aurora borealis will be in Canada and northern U.S. states such as Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Additionally, parts of Northern California, Nevada, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York may also get a glimpse of the active auroras.
This solar storm is the most intense since May 10, when the Space Weather Prediction Center observed an even more powerful and rare event. Prior to that, NOAA had not issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch since 2005.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
