Will Dallas and other Texas cities see northern lights? Strong solar storm hitting Earth

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth could produce northern lights in the U.S. this weekend and potentially disrupt power and communications.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.

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NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the U.S. as Alabama and Northern California, according to NOAA. But it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of color normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues.

“That’s really the gift from space weather — the aurora,” said Steenburgh. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.

The Northern Lights appear in the night sky over East Brandenburg, Friday, May 10, 2024. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (Patrick Pleul/dpa via AP)(Patrick Pleul / ASSOCIATED PRESS)The northern lights flare in the sky over a farmhouse, late Friday, May 10, 2024, in Brunswick, Maine. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)(Robert F. Bukaty / ASSOCIATED PRESS)The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, is visible over Ann Arbor, Mich., early Saturday, May, 11, 2024. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)(Dee-Ann Durbin / ASSOCIATED PRESS)The Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, illuminate the night sky over the mountains in Le Col des Mosses pass, Ormont-Dessous, Switzerland, during the early hours of Saturday, May 11, 2024. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)(Jean-Christophe Bott / ASSOCIATED PRESS)People view the northern lights, or aurora borealis, as they glow over Lake Washington, in Renton, Wash. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)(Lindsey Wasson / ASSOCIATED PRESS)In this image taken with a long exposure, cars pass by as people look at the night sky towards the northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Estacada, Ore. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)(Jenny Kane / ASSOCIATED PRESS)In this image taken with a long exposure, people look at the night sky towards the northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Estacada, Ore. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)(Jenny Kane / ASSOCIATED PRESS)Northern lights shine over Portsmouth, N.H., Friday, May 10, 2024. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)(Caleb Jones / ASSOCIATED PRESS)Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights are seen in Fredericton, Saturday, May. 11, 2024. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (Hina Alam /The Canadian Press via AP)(Hina Alam / ASSOCIATED PRESS)A person takes a photo of Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, May. 11, 2024. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (Ethan Cairns /The Canadian Press via AP)(ETHAN CAIRNS / ASSOCIATED PRESS)The Northern lights fill the sky at the Bogus Basin ski resort on Saturday, May 11, 2024 in Boise, Idaho. (Kyle Green (AP Photo/Kyle Green)(Kyle Green / ASSOCIATED PRESS)Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights are seen in Fredericton, Saturday, May. 11, 2024. (Hina Alam /The Canadian Press via AP)(Hina Alam / ASSOCIATED PRESS)A person takes a photo of Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, May. 11, 2024. (Ethan Cairns /The Canadian Press via AP)(ETHAN CAIRNS / ASSOCIATED PRESS)Northern lights appear in the night sky above the Brocken early Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Schierke, northern Germany. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)(Matthias Bein / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Snap a picture of the sky and “there might be actually a nice little treat there for you,” said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center.

The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii. “We are not anticipating that” but it could come close, said NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl.

This storm — ranked 4 on a scale of 1 to 5 — poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people’s homes, Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth.

An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.

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Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted.

The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption — known as a coronal mass ejection — can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.

The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot that’s 16 times the diameter of Earth, according to NOAA. It’s all part of the solar activity that’s ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle.

NASA said the storm posed no serious threat to the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The biggest concern is the increased radiation levels, and the crew could move to a better-shielded part of the station if necessary, according to Steenburgh.

Increased radiation also could threaten some of NASA’s science satellites. Extremely sensitive instruments will be turned off, if necessary, to avoid damage, said Antti Pulkkinen, director of the space agency’s heliophysics science division.

Several sun-focused spacecraft are monitoring all the action.

“This is exactly the kinds of things we want to observe,” Pulkkinen said.

By Marcia Dunn, Associated Press

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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