Geomagnetic Storm Monitoring Issued | Impacts on land

HOUSTON (CW39) – A geomagnetic storm watch has been issued by the Space Weather Prediction Center. Solar bursts are expected to supercharge arouras on Earth this evening. You may also have heard of something called the “Aurora Borealis”. They are generally more common towards the poles.

However, the strength of this week’s solar flares is much greater than normal. This will allow the glow of the arouras to penetrate low latitudes around the world from tonight until tomorrow morning.

WHO WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO SEE IT?

Most areas of the northern United States, including Washington, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Michigan, and North Dakota, have the best chance of seeing the aroura. naked. Your chances of seeing will improve the further you get from city lights and cloud cover.

It’s very rare that places like Nashville, Northern California, and far North Alabama get to see them as well.

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN?

The Earth has a magnetic field extending around it. This force field protects us from radiation and charged particles emitted by our Sun. It also serves as the backbone for navigation with a compass.

Charges, protons and electrons, are emitted by the sun, generally deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field. However, sometimes these charged particles can enter the Earth’s atmosphere where the field is weakest, the poles! This is why higher latitudes have a better chance of seeing the aroura.

Once in, the charged particles interact with the oxygen and nitrogen in our atmosphere. When the electrons collide with the new particles, the result is breathtaking! A bright light of pink, blue and green appears in our sky.

WHAT IMPACTS TO EXPECT?

On the geomagnetic storm scale of 1 to 5… tonight’s event is a G4 – Severe.

According to NOAA… here are some potential impacts we can expect.

Electrical systems: Possible widespread voltage control issues and some protection systems will mistakenly shut down key assets from the grid.

Spacecraft operations: May experience loading and surface tracking issues, corrections may be needed for orientation issues.

Other systems: Induced currents in pipelines affect preventive measures, sporadic HF radio propagation, satellite navigation degraded for hours, low frequency radio navigation disrupted, and aurorae have been observed as low as Alabama and northern California (generally 45° geomagnetic latitude).