“Wow! Look over there,” says Tucker Nobach as he stares up at the northern lights. In the past couple of days in Cannon Falls, there has been an abnormal amount of Northern Lights activity. Meanwhile, in other areas of the world where it isn’t common to see the Aurora Borealis (the scientific term for Northern Lights), they may have been able to see them in the past couple of days. The Northern Lights are reaching southern states, and the Aurora Borealis reaching the southern states is a huge deal.
According to ABC News, over the past couple of days, there has been a “severe” solar storm causing the Northern Lights to appear more colorful than normal. The hues that the Aurora Borealis have been seen as are green, purple, pink, and maybe even some red. These vivid colors have been seen from Maine all the way to New York, Washington D.C., and beyond. The Northern Lights are caused by a fast-moving coronal mass ejection. In simpler terms, there was an explosion of plasma from the sun, which caused a storm in space, called a solar storm. What we see of that storm is the Northern Lights.
The Northern Lights were seen all the way down in Florida and Texas, was stated on CBS News. Which is farther south than normal. The solar storm was rated 4G; 5G is the highest on the scale. It was a pretty high-rated storm, thus the Northern Lights were brighter and farther south than normal. “I think it is pretty wild that it was only 1G away from being the highest-rated solar storm. I think it is so cool that I had the opportunity to see such a highly rated solar storm,” says eighth grader Isabella Boyum.
On CBS News, it also stated that seeing the Northern Lights isn’t always a good thing. A solar storm that is highly rated can mess with communication systems. 5G solar storms are capable of producing so much voltage that they can cause blackouts and power grids to collapse completely. While a 4G isn’t as significant, it can potentially cause things like subatomic particles, which can disrupt navigation systems by interfering with radios, electrical power networks, and GPS signals. It can also affect the orbit of satellites and potentially bring them closer to the Earth. 5G solar storms have the potential to produce all of these problems, too. Though it isn’t common for the Northern Lights to affect our daily lives, along with that, power grids are typically prepared for scenarios like this.
“Northern Lights are a beautiful sight to see. Knowing that they are powerful and strong is half of the experience; to know that what I’m seeing is one of the most powerful yet beautiful things that I may ever experience in my life makes it that much more special,” says Lily Hovel. For some people, it may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see the Northern Lights. They typically only appear in the Southern states if there is a solar storm on a higher scale. So take the opportunity to go out at night and look up some time, especially if the Northern Lights are visible in southern states.
