Hot topics close

Solar Storm Intensifies, Making Northern Lights Visible: What to Know

Solar Storm Intensifies Making Northern Lights Visible What to Know
Officials warned of potential blackouts or interference with navigation and communication systems this weekend, as well as auroras as far south as Southern California or Texas.
  • U.S.
  • World
  • Business
  • Arts
  • Lifestyle
  • Opinion
  • Audio
  • Games
  • Cooking
  • Wirecutter
  • The Athletic
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Supported by

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Solar Storm Intensifies, Filling Skies With Northern Lights

Officials warned of potential blackouts or interference with navigation and communication systems this weekend, as well as auroras as far south as Southern California or Texas.

  • Share full article
  • 104
Video
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured these images of the solar flares, as seen in the bright flashes in the upper right, on May 5 and May 6. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, colorized in teal.CreditCredit...NASA/SDO
Katrina MillerJudson Jones

Katrina Miller and

May 10, 2024Updated 8:57 p.m. ET

A dramatic blast from the sun set off the highest level geomagnetic storm in Earth’s atmosphere on Friday that is expected to make the northern lights visible as far south as Florida and Southern California and could interfere with power grids, communications and navigations system.

Tonight’s storm is the strongest to reach Earth since Halloween of 2003. That storm was strong enough to create power outages in Sweden and damage transformers in South Africa.

The effects could continue through the weekend as a steady stream of emissions from the sun continues to bombard the planet’s magnetic field.

The solar activity is so powerful that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which monitors space weather, issued an unusual storm watch on Thursday for the first time in 19 years, which was then upgraded to a warning on Friday. The agency began observing outbursts on the sun’s surface on Wednesday, with at least five heading in the direction of Earth, the first of which reached the planet’s atmosphere on Friday.

“What we’re expecting over the next couple of days should be more significant than what we’ve seen certainly so far,” Mike Bettwy, the operations chief at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, said at a news conference on Friday morning.

For people in many places, the most visible part of the storm will be the northern lights, known also as auroras. But authorities and companies will also be on the lookout for the event’s effects on infrastructure, like global positioning systems, radio communications and even electrical power.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Similar shots
News Archive
  • Merrily We Roll Along
    Merrily We Roll Along
    'Merrily We Roll Along' Was a Flop in 1981. Now It's a Tony Winner.
    17 Jun 2024
    2
  • Celtics vs Heat
    Celtics vs Heat
    Celtics vs. Heat: Game 3 predictions, odds, TV schedule for NBA ...
    28 Apr 2024
    7
  • Peyton Stearns
    Peyton Stearns
    Cincinnati native Peyton Stearns makes new history at US Open tennis
    4 Sep 2023
    1
  • Liger movie Review
    Liger movie Review
    Liger movie review: Vijay Deverakonda's Bollywood debut is an assault on senses
    25 Aug 2022
    2
  • Mark Judge
    Mark Judge
    Before Kavanaugh Hearing, New Accusations and Doubts Emerge
    27 Sep 2018
    1