Solar storms predicted to trigger Northern Lights as far south as Kentucky begin to wane

Millions of Americans in the Lower 48 were advised that they could have been treated to a dazzling Northern Lights spectacle in the sky Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning after a strong geomagnetic storm unleashed by multiple magnetic eruptions on the Sun.

Residents across the northern U.s. to as far south as Kentucky were told to keep an eye on the sky to possibly catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights.

However, there haven’t been any major reports of seeing the phenomenon as of Wednesday morning.

What Is A Geomagnetic Storm?

The Northern Lights are produced by geomagnetic storms, phenomena in which waves of particles from the Sun cause a disturbance in the magnetic field that envelops our planet.

Noaa’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Geomagnetic Storm Warning for a “strong” G3 level event on the geomagnetic storm scale for early Wednesday morning. The scale goes up to G5.

In addition to creating the Northern Lights, the G3 geomagnetic storm has the potential to interrupt radio frequencies and cause some satellite navigation problems.

After the initial geomagnetic storm level of G3, the SWPC said the storm will decrease to a G1 on Thursday and then below G1 by Friday.

While the Northern Lights display in the U.S. wasn’t as vivid as it could have been on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, that wasn’t the case for residents in Europe.

A video shared from Scotland in the United Kingdom shows vivid purple, magenta, and green colors dancing across the night sky.

Monika Focht said it was “a night to remember” when describing seeing the Northern Lights display.

Original article source: Solar storms predicted to trigger Northern Lights as far south as Kentucky begin to wane