CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. An unusually potent solar storm hurtles towards Earth, poised to unleash northern lights across the U.S. and possibly disrupt communication systems this weekend.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a rare geomagnetic storm watch, marking the first such alert in nearly two decades. The watch kicks off on Friday and extends throughout the weekend.
This solar event follows a series of robust solar flares originating from the sun since Wednesday, culminating in five bursts of plasma with the capacity to interfere with satellites orbiting Earth and disrupt power grids. Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, carries billions of tons of solar plasma.
Describing the situation as highly unusual, NOAA highlights that the flares appear to be linked to a sunspot measuring 16 times the diameter of Earth. Memories of the extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, which caused power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa, add urgency to the current situation.
According to NOAA, the impending storm could illuminate the skies with northern lights visible as far south as Alabama and Northern California.
As scientists monitor the solar activity closely, the potential for both breathtaking auroras and communication disturbances looms large, underscoring the fragile balance between the forces of nature and modern technology.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
