For the second time this year, the Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch, an event that could make the Aurora Borealis visible in Oregon, and damage power and communication systems across the country.
“A fast coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the Sun the evening of [October 8] , and is likely to arrive at Earth on [October 10], the Space Weather Prediction Center said.
The CME could impact the earth as early as Thursday morning.
If the Earth is impacted, what could result is a called a geomagnetic storm.
“Watches at this level are very rare,” the center said.
In fact, this year has seen the only two such watches issued in the past 19 years.
The aurora could become visible for much of the northern United States, the center said, noting that areas as far south as northern California could see it.
“We won’t know the characteristics of the CME until it arrives 1 million miles from Earth and its speed and magnetic intensity are measured by the DSCOVR and ACE satellites,” the agency said.
The watch was issued at the G4 level.
Geomagnetic storms at a G5 level in 2003 damaged power transformers in South Africa and knocked out power in Sweden.
Read more about CMEs here.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
