The rare and powerful geomagnetic storm that hit the Earth this weekend could trigger power outages around the world.
The atmospheric event began late Friday night and is expected to last all weekend. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued its first G4 to G5 watch on Thursday, the most powerful storm of its kind on a scale of G1 to G5.
NOAA officials said the agency has not issued warnings of this magnitude in more than two decades, with the last G5 storm hitting Earth in October 2003, when the storm caused power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa.
“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,” NOAA said in a statement.
A G5 geomagnetic storm is considered “extreme” and could cause widespread voltage regulation problems on the electric power grid, damage transformers and even cause a complete blackout for several days.
NOAA has also observed a moderate solar radiation storm that could expose people in high-flying aircraft to “increased radiation risk” and could cause infrequent problems with satellite operations. The anomalous event may give US residents a rare opportunity to see the northern lights from the poles such that the aurora can be seen over most of the US.
In preparation for electromagnetic storm G5, NOAA warned power plant operators and spacecraft agencies around the world to take precautions and the potential to cause widespread voltage control problems, disrupt spacecraft operations and degrade satellite and radio navigation systems worldwide.
