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Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News
Paul Huttner

Aurora alert: Severe G4 geomagnetic storm slams earth

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Call it the St. Patrick's Day Aurora of 2015.

Sky watchers from Minnesota to Alaska and beyond were dazzled by vivid pre-dawn auroras this morning. A second show may occur overnight into Wednesday morning as a severe (G4) geomagnetic solar storm bombards earth.

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This jaw dropping pre-dawn image from Donnelly Creek, Alaska, was shared on NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Flickr by Sebastian Saarloos.

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It's fairly unusual for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to call a press conference to highlight an inbound solar storm. It did so today as the solar blast arrived.

G4 (SEVERE) GEOMAGNETIC STORM OBSERVED

published: Tuesday, March 17, 2015 20:17 UTC

A G4 (Severe) geomagnetic storm was observed today at 07/1358 UTC (09:58 am EDT). This is the response to a pair of CMEs observed leaving the Sun on 15 March. Shown here is a model depiction of where the aurora is likely visible. Storm conditions are forecast to persist for the next several hours before beginning to wane down towards the end of the UT day.


planetary-k-index
NOAA

The forecast calls for a good chance for more aurora activity overnight into Wednesday morning.

317 NorthAmerica_4
University of Alaska Fairbanks

Clouds will drift across parts of southern Minnesota tonight, but some some clear spots may allow a decent aurora show in central and northern Minnesota tonight.

Keep an eye to the northern sky tonight across the state.