WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — There’s a good chance that a large portion of the country will catch a glimpse of the northern lights Thursday into Friday. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia are among the areas where people could spot the aurora.
The reason? A geomagnetic storm which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said could be pretty intense.
In fact, NOAA issued a Geomagnetic Storm Watch, noting that the storm potentially is severe and that issuance of that level of the storm watch (G4) is extremely rare.
WATCH: Northern Lights dazzle DC area skies
NOAA said a “coronal mass ejection (CME)” prompted the watch. A CME involves erupting material from the Sun and magnetic fields. When those reach Earth, it can lead to a geomagnetic storm.
The geometric storm could interfere with some of our technology on Earth. That’s a possible downside, although NOAA said the situation could be mitigated.
PHOTOS: Northern Lights illuminate the sky across Virginia
The upside? The opportunity to see the northern lights, which NOAA expected to be visible over a good portion of the northern half of the United States. The aurora also may be seen as far south as Alabama to northern California.
NOAA offers an Aurora Dashboard which provides information about the science behind the aurora, some guidance on viewing, and a forecast with the aurora at its center.
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