Magnetic clouds and flares from a sun storm are hurtling to Earth. This could impact power and communications

If you have see the Northern Lights on your bucket list, you may be in luck tonight. A powerful geomagnetic storm could trigger an extraordinary view of the Aurora borealis across the United States. And the stunning show could stretch further farther S than usual. Meteorologist Derek Van Damme is tracking this one for us. So how far South? Who’s going to get to see it? When are we going to get to see it? What are the details? All right, I’m looking at you. Northern Alabama, Northern California, Potentially tonight, the maximum of potential would be between 2:00 AM and 5:00 AM. So wake up early, set those alarms. But heads up and the sun has been hurtling these solar flares as it reaches its solar maximum this 11 year solar cycle. Here it is over the past couple of days, right towards the Earth. And by the way, this is a future projection of those solar flares you saw just a moment ago. And check it out, where is it headed? That’s Earth right there. And of course that is going to bring us the potential for Northern Lights. That’s the positive, but it’s also going to bring some negative impacts as well. This is the first G4 geomagnetic watch. Issued by the Space Prediction Center from NOAA since 2005 and you can see the greatest probability of viewing across the Midwest. And into the Northern Plains, stretching as far South as Alabama. But it has negative impacts as well, potentially on power and communication. So that’s something we’re going to monitor. Here’s a look at that cloud cover, Kate. You can see it’ll be socked in across the Northeast, into Texas and across the Great Basin, but there will be plenty of opportunities to catch those dazzling, beautiful spectacles we call the Aurora Borealis.