Washington: A powerful solar storm put on an amazing skyward light show across the globe overnight but has caused what appeared to be only minor disruptions to the electric power grid, communications and satellite positioning systems.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said extreme geomagnetic storm conditions continued Saturday, and 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, so far, no FEMA region had reported any significant impact from the storms. The US Department of Energy said Saturday it is not aware of any impact from the storms on electric customers.
NOAA predicted that strong flares will continue through at least Sunday, and a spokeswoman said via email that the agency's Space Weather Prediction Center had prepared well for the storm.
Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, China, England, Spain and elsewhere.
NOAA issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated.
The agency alerted operators of power plants and orbiting spacecraft, as well as FEMA, to take precautions.
"For most people here on planet Earth, they won't have to do anything," said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, as quoted by AP.
"That's really the gift from space weather: the aurora," Steenburgh said. He and his colleagues said the best views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.
The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, 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.
Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted. (ANI/WAM)
