NOAA upped the Geomagnetic Storm Watch from Moderate to Severe for Friday through Sunday. This is the first Severe Watch in 19 years. That could grace the northern tier skies with auroras but also trigger GPS problems, hamper satellite communication and black out high-frequency radio.
Aurora viewers will want to keep their eyes on the sky this weekend as solar flares from the Sun are hurling towards Earth.
NOAA has upgraded a geomagnetic solar storm watch from a Level 3 (“moderate”) to a Level 4 (“severe”) as several solar flares have combined. That could grace the northern tier skies with brilliant auroras but also trigger GPS problems, hamper satellite communication, and cause high-frequency radio blackouts.
“Watches at this level are very rare,” NOAA stated in the watch. “This is an unusual event.”
This is the first “severe” Geomagnetic Storm Watch issued since January 2005.Sunspots merged
Two massive sunspots have recently merged and spit out at least two X-class (largest) and several M-class (second-largest) solar flares. According to NOAA, the explosive acceleration of charged and superheated plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection or CME, speeds through space and expands.
The new sunspot is 16 times the diameter of the Earth.
Another sunspot also released strong CMEs this week and continues to be active. According to NOAA, the bulk of five CMEs will collide with Earth in a glancing blow as early as midday Friday through Sunday.
“These two sunspot clusters are magnetically complex and much larger than Earth.
