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Although there were clouds around on Friday night, May 10, there were numerous reports from the region of spectacular aurora displays (known as the northern lights).
Those displays will continue on Saturday, May 11, and Sunday, May 12, and possibly linger even longer.
Severe Geomagnetic Storm conditions were first observed at Earth at 6:54 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, according to the NOAA National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center.
In a new update just before 9 a.m. Saturday, May 11, the SWPC stated, "The extreme geomagnetic storm continues and will persist through at least Sunday."
Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) began on Wednesday, May 8. CMEs are explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona.
That prompted space weather forecasters to issue the first Geomagnetic Storm Watch since January 2005.
The watch says CMEs may linger into Sunday, May 12.
"Additional solar eruptions could cause geomagnetic storm conditions to persist through the weekend," Space Weather Prediction Center.
According to NASA, "the aurora is a beautiful nighttime phenomenon," and it's the only way for most people to experience space weather.
The SWPC noted that geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio, and satellite operations.
"SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action," the center said.
This continues to be a developing story.
Check back to Daily Voice for updates.
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