Having spotted peculiar activity on the Sun, a federal agency has issued an advisory that the Aurora Borealis may be seen as may south as Alabama or Northern California.
The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC)—a division of the National Weather Service—is monitoring the Sun following a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that began on May 8th.
These powerful ejections of plasma and radiation have the ability to disrupt telecommunications, navigation, and the electrical grid, and the SWPC detected a cluster of sunspots that produced five solar flares in succession.
“SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action. Geomagnetic storms can also trigger spectacular displays of aurora on Earth,” the SWPC said in a statement. “A severe geomagnetic storm includes the potential for aurora to be seen as far south as Alabama and Northern California.”
The center describes the severity of the CMEs as “very rare,” and warns they could arrive late on May 10th, or on May 11th.
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Much of the northern half of the country may be able to see an aurora either tonight or tomorrow morning.
The reason it’s called the Aurora Borealis is because it occurs in the Boreal zones. Highly excited plasma and radiation coming off the Sun is redirected by Earth’s magnetic field to the magnetic poles, creating an aurora in the Arctic and Antarctic, but depending on the quantity of radiation and plasma present, it can spill southwards.
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