Northern lights appear over Georgia due to geomagnetic storm

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – An unusually strong solar storm struck Earth Friday evening, producing spectacular northern lights in Georgia and across the country.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar blast reached Earth Friday afternoon, hours earlier than expected. The effects are expected to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.

NOAA alerted operators of power plants and orbiting spacecraft to take precautions, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

The Georgia lights were not the spectacular curtains of color normally associated with the Northern Lights, but rather pops of green or purple hues.

“That’s really the gift of space weather: the northern lights,” Steenburgh said. He and his colleagues said the best views of aurora might come from phone cameras, which capture light better than the naked eye.

Take a photo of the sky and “there might be a little treat there for you,” said Mike Bettwy, chief of operations for the forecast center.

The most intense solar storm in history occurred in 1859. It caused auroras in Central America and perhaps even Hawaii.

NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said he didn’t expect such a dramatic show, but these lights could come close.

See photos taken by Atlanta News First staff and viewers below!

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