The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that an S4 (severe) solar radiation storm is in progress.
NOAA’s GOES-19 satellite measurements show the ongoing solar radiation storm has intensified to Severe (S4) on the NOAA Space Weather Scales, and it is still increasing.
NOAA said the event could last at the higher level for several days.
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A Severe (S4) radiation storm is a rare event and exceeds the intensity during the October 2003 “Halloween” space weather storms.
The storm could produce an aurora or what is called the "Northern Lights." Despite the increased severity, NOAA said the northern lights may be visible fully or partially in the following states: Alaska, Colorado Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Washington.
Potential Impacts:
- Increased radiation exposure risk for astronauts and flights on polar routes.
- Enhanced risk to satellites, especially those in geostationary orbit, and space launch systems.
- Loss of over-the-horizon high-frequency communications in polar regions.
SWPC has notified airlines, FAA, NASA, FEMA, NERC, and other stakeholders to support preparedness actions as conditions evolve.
This significant level has not been observed since October, 2003. Potential effects are mainly restricted to aviation polar routes, high frequency (HF) radio communications in polar regions.
Information on aurora sightings is available, here.
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