• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Weatherboy

Weatherboy Weather News, Maps, RADAR, Satellite, and Forecasts.

  • Local
  • Earth Science News
  • RADAR
  • Current Warnings
  • Satellite
  • Current Maps
  • Forecast Maps
  • Video

NOAA Issues New Geomagnetic Storm Watch for April 29

by Weatherboy Team Meteorologist - April 26, 2022

Screen capture from a video showing a solar flare with a coronal mass ejection, or CME, component. Credit: NASA/SDO
Screen capture from a video showing a solar flare with a coronal mass ejection, or CME, component. Credit: NASA/SDO




NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has issued a fresh Geomagnetic Storm Watch for April 29, with G1-category storm conditions expected to impact Earth. In a bulletin issued by the SWPC a short time ago, they said most impacts will be felt poleward of 60 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude. While weak power grid fluctuations can occur and minor impacts on satellite operations are possible, aurora may be visible at high latitudes that usually don’t see the Northern Lights. According to the SWPC, the area that could see aurora from this geomagnetic storm event is across the northern tier of the continental United States, such as northern Michigan and Maine. Should the storm end up being stronger than forecast, the aurora could head further south.

Geomagnetic storms are rated on a 5 point scale with 1 being the mildest and 5 being the most potentially destructive. The sun has been extra-active in recent weeks, triggering 1,2, and 3-class geomagnetic storms. These storms have brought the aurora far south, disrupted radio and navigation systems, damaged or destroyed some satellites, and impacted electrical generation and grids at far northern latitudes.

 




Chart showing NOAA Space Weather Scales for Geomagnetic Storms. Image: NOAA
Chart showing NOAA Space Weather Scales for Geomagnetic Storms. Image: NOAA

 

This map shows how far south the Northern Lights could appear at different KP index levels. While a KP of 3 or less would keep them in northern latitudes of Alaska and Canada, a KP of 9 would make them visible in places like Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Washington, DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Portland. Image: NOAA
This map shows how far south the Northern Lights could appear at different KP index levels. While a KP of 3 or less would keep them in northern latitudes of Alaska and Canada, a KP of 9 would make them visible in places like Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Washington, DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Portland. Image: NOAA

The K-index, and by extension the Planetary K-index, are used to characterize the magnitude of geomagnetic storms. The SWPC  says that Kp is an excellent indicator of disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field and is used by SWPC to decide whether geomagnetic alerts and warnings need to be issued for users who are affected by these disturbances. Beyond signifying how bad a geomagnetic storm’s impact can be felt, the Kp index can also help indicate how low the aurora will be.

 

The Northern Lights could come to life in a brilliant way on Labor Day as a solar wind is forecast to impact Earth.
The Northern Lights could come to life in a brilliant way in places more south than usual during the Geomagnetic Storm.

NOAA forecasters analyze a variety of solar data from spacecraft to determine what impacts a geomagnetic storm could produce.  If Earth is experiencing the effects of a coronal hole and a coronal mass ejection is forecasted to impact Earth, the combined effects could result in a more significant impact and more intense geomagnetic storming. Analyzing data from the DSCOVER and ACE satellite is one way forecasters can tell when the enhanced solar wind from a coronal hole is about to arrive at Earth. A few things they look for in the data to determine when the enhanced solar wind is arriving at Earth:
• Solar wind speed increases
• Temperature increases
• Particle density decreases
• Interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strength increases

While these solar events can help illuminate the sky with stunning aurora, they can also do considerable harm to electronics, electrical grids, and satellite and radio communications.



A solar eruption seen by the SOHO spacecraft on July 24, 1999, with Earth inserted to give a sense of scale to the blast. Image: ESA / SOHO / EIT
A solar eruption seen by the SOHO spacecraft on July 24, 1999, with Earth inserted to give a sense of scale to the blast. Image: ESA / SOHO / EIT

The 1859 incident, which occurred on September 1-2 in 1859, is also known as the “Carrington Event.” This event unfolded as  powerful geomagnetic storm struck Earth during Solar Cycle 10. A CME hit the Earth and induced the largest geomagnetic storm on record.  The storm was so intense it created extremely bright, vivid aurora throughout the planet: people in California thought the sun rose early, people in the northeastern U.S. could read a newspaper at night from the aurora’s bright light, and people as far south as Hawaii and south-central Mexico could see the aurora in the sky.

The event severely damaged the limited electrical and communication lines that existed at that time; telegraph systems around the world failed, with some telegraph operators reporting they received electric shocks.

A June 2013 study by Lloyd’s of London and Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) in the U.S. showed that if the Carrington event happened in modern times, damages in the U.S. could exceed $2.6 trillion, roughly 15% of the nation’s annual GDP.

While typically known for their weather forecasts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its National Weather Service (NWS) is also responsible for “space weather.” While there are private companies and other agencies that monitor and forecast space weather, the official source for  alerts and warnings of the space environment is the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). The SWPC is located in Boulder, Colorado and is a service center of the NWS, which is part of NOAA. The Space Weather Prediction Center is also one of nine National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) as they monitor current space weather activity 24/7, 365 days a year.

 

The Sun is constantly churning material and magnetic fields which create an ever-changing landscape of features that last from milliseconds to days. NASA developed this infographic to illustrate a few of the most common features that can be seen on the Sun. Image: NASA/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith
The Sun is constantly churning material and magnetic fields which create an ever-changing landscape of features that last from milliseconds to days. NASA developed this infographic to illustrate a few of the most common features that can be seen on the Sun.
Image: NASA/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith

Primary Sidebar

Sponsored Ad

Search

Latest News

  • National Hurricane Center Initiates Daily Reports Today
  • Severe Weather Likely Across Broad Area on Friday
  • Heat Blast Expected from Texas to Florida and from Minnesota to Arkansas
  • Mid Atlantic to Become Extra Moist
  • Southeast Soaker Likely Next 72 Hours
  • Igloo Cooler Recalled Due to Amputation / Crushing Threat
  • Longtime TV Meteorologist Fired
  • Spacecraft Launched by Soviet Union in 1972 Crashed Back on Earth Today
About | Careers | Contact | Contests
Terms | Privacy | Ad Choices
Weatherboy is a (R) Registered Trademark of isarithm LLC, All Rights Reserved.
All content herein is Copyright by Isarithm LLC 1997-2022