Rare G5 geomagnetic storm treats St. Louis to stunning Northern Lights display
ST. LOUIS — Last night, the northern lights were visible across the viewing area due to ‘extreme’ G5 geomagnetic storm conditions reaching earth on Friday. Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on the Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio, and satellite operations.
The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center says the last extreme (G5) event happened with the Halloween storms in 2003.
That storm resulted in power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa. This geomagnetic storm will likely persist through the weekend as several other earth-directed Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are in transit, according to the NOAA SWPC.
As for the weather on Earth here in St. Louis, we expect a calm, quiet, and beautiful weekend. Today’s highs are in the upper 70s, with plenty of sunshine.
Mostly clear and a bit cool overnight, with lows in the upper 40s to low 50s. Mother’s Day (Sunday) will be a bit warmer, with highs in the low 80s. Expect showers and thunderstorms from late Sunday night through Tuesday.
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