The sun has been quite active this week, with powerful solar flares and geomagnetic storm possibilities on the forecast. A parade of solar activity continues to flow from the sun, increasing the chances of spotting the aurora across the United States this weekend.
On Thursday morning, a sunspot region that had not yet been numbered released an X1.3-class solar flare, which is the most powerful of its kind. The energetic eruption brought impacts earlier in the day with communication bands affected across Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia.
Forecasters at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center are analyzing data to confirm how many more coronal mass ejections (CMEs) could reach Earth’s magnetic field from the X-class flare and a group of M-class flares generated earlier in the day by two previous sunspots.
A geomagnetic storm occurred Thursday morning at the G3 (Moderate) level, resulting from a CME fired off from a solar flare on September 10. The storm was visible across the eastern half of the United States, with some locations further west able to catch a glimpse of the resulting auroras.
The northern lights can be seen in Elko this night due to the geomagnetic storm. For more information, head over to the Space Weather Prediction Center and see when the next chance for the lights are.
Aurora chasers will have another opportunity on Friday with another geomagnetic storm expected from a CME that began its journey away from the sun on September 10. The SWPC has a Geomagnetic Storm Watch in place for Friday, predicting a potential G2 (Moderate) event that could bring a repeated chance to see the aurora if the weather cooperates, for northern and upper Midwestern states stretching from Idaho to New York.
Source: https://www.space.com/sun-solar-flare-september-12-aurora-chances