Northern Lights Still Possible Over MD This Weekend Amid Rare Solar Storm

MARYLAND — If you missed Friday's light show, there's a good chance Marylanders will have a few more days to see the dazzling aurora borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, if the weather cooperates, according to space weather forecasters.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said extreme geomagnetic storm conditions continued Saturday after the agency issued a rare warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated.

In the United States, people reported sightings of the Northern Lights along Virginia’s Blue Ridge Parkway, Colorado, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Mexico, Mississippi, Florida and Texas.

NOAA said the solar storm will persist through at least Sunday, offering another chance for many to catch the lights on Saturday night.

Unfortunately, it could be hard to catch a glimpse of the dazzling display in Maryland on Saturday. According to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service, showers are expected Saturday night, mainly after 8 p.m.

Geomagnetic storms are created when a surge of particles and plasma from the sun temporarily jostle Earth’s magnetosphere. Geomagnetic storms are categorized on a scale of G1 to G5, with G5 being the most severe.

NOAA initially issued a watch for a severe G4 storm, but the activity exceeded forecasts on Friday, according to a Washington Post report. The storm reached G5 level around 7 p.m. E.T.

The most intense solar storm in recorded history happened in 1859 and prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii.

This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people’s homes, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn 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.

On Saturday, NOAA said there were preliminary reports of power grid irregularities, degradation of high-frequency communications and global positioning systems.

But the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that as of midday Saturday morning, no FEMA region had reported any significant impact from the storms.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.