Northern half of US to see northern lights due to geomagnetic storm

Forecasters predicted that an aurora, or northern lights display, will be visible to a larger swath of the United States than usual, due to the first geomagnetic storm of this magnitude in almost 20 years.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its first severe G4 geomagnetic storm watch since 2005. This watch came after the administration saw at least seven coronal mass ejections from the sun, which will result in explosions of plasma and magnetic fields across Earth’s atmosphere. These fields tend to interfere with satellite operations such as the electric power grid, navigation, and radio but also result in an aurora.