Auroras May Hit Northern U.S. States This Week Due to Geomagnetic Storm
Image source On Wednesday and Thursday, when Earth receives a hit from a cloud of plasma, solar activity may cause the northern lights to shine over northern U.S. states. A coronal mass ejection (CME), the name for the plasma cloud, was released from the sun on Sunday. Since that time, the charged gas cloud has been hurdling itself toward Earth. After Sunday's CME was discovered, the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) posted on its website on Monday that G1 (minor) and G2 (moderate) storm watches were in effect for Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. According to the SWPC, auroras "may be observed from the far Northeast, through the far upper Midwest, across areas of the north-central states, and possibly over the northwest section of Washington state" on Thursday as the cloud of charged gas "is expected to arrive at Earth as a glancing blow." CMEs are frequently ejected from the sun'...