Auroras expected tonight in New York, Washington and Wisconsin as solar storm barrels toward Earth

[Judi Lynn]

By Brandon Specktor about 12 hours ago

The sun lobbed four enormous blobs of plasma toward Earth, and we will soon see their effects.



An aurora spotted from the International Space Station. (Image credit: NASA/JSC)

A moderate solar storm will slam into Earth today (Sept. 27), potentially causing auroras to dance in the sky at much lower latitudes than usual. As a result, the Northern Lights may be visible tonight in the northern United States, including New York, Wisconsin and Washington state, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).

The storm — which is made up of charged solar particles oozing across space — may also cause satellite disruptions and some "power grid fluctuations" at high latitudes (particularly above the 55th parallel north, a line that runs through Canada, Northern Ireland and much of Russia), NOAA said.

However, the storm will remain relatively weak, ranking as a level G2 storm on a five-level scale where G5 is the most severe. Only in category G4 storms and above are widespread power outages expected, according to NOAA.

Solar storms are a common form of space weather, occurring when coronal mass ejections (CMEs) belch out of the sun's outermost atmosphere and slam into Earth's magnetic shield. CMEs are enormous blobs of plasma (electrically-charged gases that make up all the stars in the universe) that escape the sun's atmosphere and soar through space at hundreds to thousands of miles a second. According to NOAA, it takes a CME about 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth after leaving the sun.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/solar-storm-cme-september-2021?utm_source=notification

[NurseJackie]

1. I've never seen an aurora.

[catbyte]

2. I remember the most intense aurora I ever saw was when I was in high school.

I grew up in northern lower Michigan about 5 miles out of town, My boyfriend and I were smooching in his car in my driveway one summer night when I heard a weird zzz zapping sound and looked out of the windshield.The sky was ablaze with color. Red, pink, green and everything in between. It was pulsing and dancing from a center that looked like a black hole. I immediately jumped out of the car, fascinated. It was so rare and so awesome that I ran into the house and woke up my mom (my dad was a cop working nights.) My mom, boyfriend, and I watched for a really long time until they died down and all three of us could hear that weird buzzing. Some people say that the aurora doesn't have a sound, but dammit, all of us heard it that night.

I've seen the northern lights since, but none as spectacular as that night.

[2naSalit]

4. I experienced that...

In Madison, Wisconsin. I was leaving a well lit building and was not sure what was going on so I went back in and asked a security guard to walk me to my car. It was really intense and it lasted for quite a while.

Another time, not more then a year in between, I was driving up from the SW to the Lakes area and I had to pull over a couple times to just look at it, couldn't focus on the road. It was visible at sunset in Santa Rosa, NM as an orange glow in the north. As it grew dark, it was an obvious aurora and I watched it all the way to Kansas when it started getting light again. Listening to the news the next day, they said it was visible all the way into central Mexico.

[Throck]

3. Hope the electric grid isn't affected.

[2naSalit]

5. These always make me wonder...

If we will start seeing space garbage falling from the sky.

[Walleye]

6. I remember in the 50s seeing the northern lights in Delaware

I was very young about five years old. I remember our father wrapping up in blankets and taking us out to look at them. He was always a guy very interested in science. I haven’t seen them since, but I’ll never forget it. Green and purple as I recall