This is the moment aurora chasers have been waiting for

 

For the first time since 2003, an extreme geomagnetic storm — the most severe of its kind — hit Earth on Friday evening. Beautiful green, purple and red dancing aurora displays, also known as the northern lights, were spotted across Europe and very low latitudes in the United States, as far south as Alabama and Florida.
 
If you missed Friday’s show, more geomagnetic activity is expected to continue on Saturday and Sunday. As of Saturday morning, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast called for another strong geomagnetic storm on Saturday night, although slightly weaker than Friday’s show.

The aurora could be visible as far south as Illinois and Oregon with the naked eye, but could be seen farther south with a camera… NOAA scientists also warned of potential disruptions in satellite and radio communications, as well as to the electricity grid.
 
On Saturday morning, NOAA said in a statement that there were “reports of power grid irregularities and degradation to high-frequency communications and GPS.” Starlink, the satellite internet company, said it was “experiencing degraded service” on Saturday morning. A team is investigating the cause, but the satellites have been affected in the past by geomagnetic storms.
 
Geomagnetic storms are created when a surge of particles and plasma from the sun temporarily jostle Earth’s magnetosphere, sometimes resulting in the northern lights or technology disruptions. NOAA categorizes geomagnetic storms on a scale of G1 to G5, with G5 the most severe.

The agency anticipated a severe G4 storm, but the activity exceeded forecasts on Friday. Around 7 p.m. Eastern time, the storm reached the G5 level. The last time a storm of this severity hit Earth was in October 2003, resulting in power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa.
 
The storm continued for several hours at varying strengths through Saturday morning, when it again hit a G5 level. NOAA calls for a strong (G3) level through Saturday, although the forecast may be updated as more solar activity arrives at Earth.
 
Forecasts anticipated the severe storm would bring aurora displays unusually far south in the Northern Hemisphere. The northern lights filled skies in France, Spain, Italy, Austria, southern Switzerland, London and India. In the United States, people reported sightings along Virginia’s Blue Ridge Parkway, Colorado, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Mexico, Mississippi, Florida and Texas…

-Washington Post