GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan —
WHAT
A large sunspot, 16x the diameter of Earth, has been sending out rounds of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) since 5 a.m. EDT. NOAA explains CMEs as "explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona."
When directed at Earth, CMEs can cause Geomagnetic Storms. The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has noted at least five CMEs directed at Earth, causing the potential for a severe Geomagnetic Storm. Because of this, the SWPC has issued a rare G4 watch. The last G4 watch to be issued was in 2005.
TIMING
The CMEs are 93 million away, making it difficult to precisely time their arrival, but SWPC believes they will arrive around 8 p.m. Friday, give or take a few hours. They could then potentially persist through Sunday morning. Once the CMEs are 1 million from Earth, the precise levels can be read, and at that time SWPC will decide whether or not to proceed with a warning.
IMPACTS
This will cause an aurora or northern lights to potentially be visible as far south as Alabama to northern California. It also can impact critical infrastructure near Earth and on Earth.
Things such as communications, the power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations can all be disrupted. SWPC has notified the critical infrastructure operators to take protective action.
Space scientist, Rob Steenburgh, explained this process by saying "When the CME arrives it can cause the magnetic field to fluctuate and it can induce currents. The currents are not supposed to be there and can interact and impact the currents to power grids and other critical infrastructure and that is why mitigation efforts are taken."
This is a rare event and will be monitored closely in the coming hours.
Click here to find out if West Michigan skies will be clear enough to view the northern lights.
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