The solar storm of level five on the five-level scale was observed on Friday evening (local time), said the Space Weather Prediction Center of the United States Meteorological and Oceanographic Administration (NOAA). The solar storm is expected to last through the weekend. In Europe, the solar storm produced impressive northern lights, but there were also warnings of disruption.
GPS, power grids, spacecraft, satellite navigation and other technologies could be affected, NOAA said. Authorities notified satellite and power grid operators and airlines to take precautions against possible disruptions.
According to NOAA, category five, classified as “extreme,” was last reached in October 2003 during the so-called Halloween storms. At that time there were power outages in Sweden and transformers were damaged in South Africa.
“The brightest northern lights in decades”
In addition to the possible disruptions, solar storms also produce impressive northern lights. These can sometimes be seen significantly further south than the regions where they can normally be observed. The chances of observing the northern lights are not bad in Upper Austria either. These could already be admired in many places on Saturday night.
- Video: Northern lights over St. Florian:
“At night the brightest northern lights in decades were observed in Austria,” said Erwin Filimon, chairman of the Salzkammergut Astronomical Working Group. “The aurora activity lasted the entire night with fluctuations in intensity. The appearance, color and structures changed constantly within a very short period of time.” In addition to the red auroral stripes that are mostly visible in our latitudes, the less common green auroral phenomena could also be observed, according to the expert.
- Northern lights over Linz: Time-lapse video from OÖN reader Herwig Sulzbacher:
- Read more here: Northern lights: Will the night sky over Upper Austria be colored this weekend?
- Have you observed the Northern Lights? Send us your photos to online@nachrichten.at.
These photos by OÖN editor Markus Prinz come from the northeasternmost Mühlviertel:
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