An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth could produce northern lights in the United States this weekend and potentially disrupt power and communications.
In advance of the solar storm hitting, the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its first severe geomagnetic storm watch warning since January 2005.
The solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.
The geomagnetic storm has been classified as G4, which is the second-strongest form of its kind and is the result of a massive and “complex” sunspot cluster in the NOAA region 3664, according to the SWPC. The sunspot cluster is reportedly around 16 times the diameter of Earth....
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