In a rare move, National Weather Service space forecasters issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for the U.S. on Friday and Saturday that could potentially disrupt power or phone service in some parts of the world.
A sunspot cluster has produced "several moderate to strong solar flares" from the sun since 4 a.m. central Wednesday, the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado said Thursday afternoon.
At least five of the flares have caused coronal mass ejections. Also known as CMEs, the ejections are large clouds of magnetic plasma that erupt into space and can cause radio and magnetic disturbances on Earth.
Forecasters will monitor NOAA and NASA’s space assets for the onset of these geomagnetic storms, which could persist through the weekend.
The storms could potentially disrupt phone service, electric power grids, navigation, radio and satellite operations. Space forecasters have advised operators to take protective action.
Geomagnetic storms could possibly produce a magical sight in the night sky called an aurora, which late Friday or early Saturday could be seen as far south as Alabama stretching to northern California, the NWS said, meaning parts of Louisiana could be in the path.
An aurora is a natural, shimmering light display of many colors that are only visible at night and typically only appear in polar regions, according to National Geographic. For an aurora to reach the U.S. South would be a rare sight.