A powerful geomagnetic storm is set to illuminate the skies above Alabama with the Northern Lights this Sunday and Monday.
The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center has announced a Geomagnetic Storm Alert for Sunday, following an unexpectedly intense solar eruption that triggered a solar flare. Initially classified as a minor G1 or G2 event on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s five-point scale, the storm’s rating was subsequently elevated to a G4 level, according to the New York Post.
Typically, a G1 rating is associated with the auroras commonly seen over Alaska and Canada. However, with the right conditions, auroras from a G3 storm can stretch as far south as Washington, Wisconsin, and New York. According to Fox Weather, the G4 storm, expected to persist through Monday, could extend the visibility of the Northern Lights to regions as far south as Alabama and northern California.
The visibility of the auroras in the southern states may be affected by cloud cover, though there’s a chance of spotting a faint glow late Sunday into Monday. The most likely scenario suggests that the lights could be visible as far south as northern Illinois and central Iowa, as reported by USA Today.
NOAA has indicated that no negative impacts from the magnetic storm are anticipated, although there could be an increased risk of disruptions to satellite operations or GPS functionality.
The auroras, known as the Northern Lights in the northern hemisphere and the Southern Lights in the southern hemisphere, are created when electrons from space interact with the Earth’s magnetic field and collide with atmospheric atoms and molecules. These collisions generate light in a process similar to how neon lights work, with electrons colliding with neon and other gases to produce colored light, as explained by NOAA.
The phenomena, technically referred to as Aurora Borealis in the north, are most vividly displayed during Coronal Mass Ejections, such as the one that occurred this week, NOAA stated.