A massive solar flare that erupted Sunday is behind unusual lights in the sky and disruptions to satellites and cell phone service, according to NOAA.
The solar eruption triggered the most intense geomagnetic storm in more than two decades, allowing the northern lights, also known as the aurora, to be seen much farther south than normal. The storm also led to satellite disruptions and intermittent cell phone issues, which could continue for a time.
Shawn Dahl with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center says the solar flare arrived much sooner than expected and brought extremely fast-moving solar winds.
“The solar wind speed associated with this tells us it could have been moving through space at four million miles per hour,” Dahl said.
Dahl says the activity began with the eruption of a strong solar flare on Sunday, sparking a geomagnetic storm powerful enough to impact communications systems.
“We’ve got speeds still over 1,000 kilometers per second, that’s roughly two million miles per hour. That is very significant,” he said.
The storm is also responsible for pushing the aurora farther south, giving some people across the southern U.S. a rare chance to see the northern lights.
Dahl says the solar flare arrived nearly a day earlier than forecasters initially expected, intensifying its effects. He adds that while the storm has caused widespread impacts, conditions should gradually improve.
Most issues related to the geomagnetic storm are expected to die down later Tuesday or early Wednesday, according to NOAA.
WSB Radio’s Michelle Wright contributed to this story.