May 2024<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n\n Heightened radiation can also pose risks to satellites we rely on for communications and navigation.\n <\/p>\n
\n During the May 2024 geomagnetic storm, tractor company John Deere reported that some customers reliant on GPS for precision farming experienced a disruption. But for the most part, power grid and satellite operators kept satellites in order and properly in orbit and managed the buildup of intense geomagnetic currents on the grid systems.\n <\/p>\n
\n While satellite operators will likely need to take action Monday night, widespread technology impacts for the general public are not expected, said Ryan French, a solar physicist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder.\n <\/p>\n
\n A severe geomagnetic storm also reached Earth Monday at 2:20 p.m. ET, Dahl said. Such storms also have the ability to disrupt the electric power grid, according to SWPC.\n <\/p>\n
\n While a solar radiation storm marks the release of intense, rapidly-moving charged particles toward Earth, slower moving geomagnetic storms are caused by a coronal mass ejections (CMEs), or explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun\u2019s outer atmosphere.\n <\/p>\n
\n When these outbursts are directed at Earth, they can cause major disturbances of Earth\u2019s magnetic field, resulting in geomagnetic storms.\n <\/p>\n
\n The coronal mass ejection, which launched from the sun on Sunday, was triggered by an X-class flare, the most intense type of solar flare. This marks the first major solar flare of the year, French said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Increased solar activity causes auroras that dance around Earth\u2019s poles, known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis, and southern lights, or aurora australis. When the energized particles from coronal mass ejections reach Earth\u2019s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere to create different colored lights in the sky.\n <\/p>\n
\n Auroras may be visible over much of the northern half of the US, and potentially as far south as Alabama and northern California, according to SWPC.\n <\/p>\n
\n Parts of the Midwest, including much of Minnesota, will have clear skies for aurora viewing, said CNN Meteorologist Chris Dolce.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cClouds might clear enough by tomorrow early AM over northern Illinois and Wisconsin to possibly see, too,\u201d Dolce said. \u201cThe Pacific Northwest might have decent conditions west of the Cascades. The Northeast is a mix. The interior looks pretty cloudy, but conditions closer the coast it might clear out enough to make visible late tonight and early tomorrow.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Even if the colorful displays don\u2019t seem apparent to the naked eye, sensors in cameras including cell phone cameras can pick them up.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cFor aurora chasers, your best bet is to find somewhere with a clear and dark view north, without interference from light pollution,\u201d French said. \u201cAurora will likely be strongest as soon as it is dark enough to see them at your location.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Auroras experience short 20-minute bursts in activity called substorms. During these periods, the northern light are visible much further south than during the rest of the night, French said.\n <\/p>\n
\n More flares from an active sunspot region are possible and any occurring within the next week have a good chance of producing further Earth-directed eruptions, French said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Powerful solar activity released by the sun is heading for Earth and it\u2019s likely to create dazzling auroral…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-417676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}