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US authorities have issued the first Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch alert in almost 20 years as a powerful solar storm will hit the Earth today, with the possibility of the Northern Lights being visible from Ireland.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued the alert late yesterday, the first alert of this level since 2005.
It said at least five “earth-directed coronal mass ejections” were observed and expected to arrive as early as today and to persist through until Sunday.
Large sunspot groups and strong solar flares led to the issuance of SWPC’s first G4 Watch since 2005… pic.twitter.com/oi55cTPXhP
— NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 9, 2024
It also said several strong flares have been observed over the past few days and were associated with a large and magnetically complex sunspot cluster, which it says is 16 times the diameter of Earth.
Coronal mass ejections are explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun and cause geomagnetic storms when they are directed at Earth.
The NOAA says geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations.
In 2003, a G5 solar geomagnetic storm resulted in power outages in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.
Geomagnetic storms can also trigger spectacular displays of aurora on Earth and the Northern Lights may be visible tonight and tomorrow night.
