Pennsylvania

Don't Expect to See Northern Lights in Philly-Area from Severe Solar Storm

A major solar storm hitting Earth Monday could cause hiccups with GPS and power grids and extend the Northern Lights further south, but don't expect to see the celestial light show in our area.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a potent blast of magnetic plasma shot out of the sun on Sunday, traveling faster than usual, hitting Earth with the biggest solar storm since March, maybe since September 2005.

Federal forecasters said the aurora borealis may be able to be seen Tuesday night as far south as Pennsylvania.

However, Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer at The Franklin Institute, says don't get your hopes up.

"The activity is not intense enough though to allow visibility as far south as our region according to the NOAA aurora forecast maps," Pitts told NBC10 Monday evening. "In fact, the southern ‘view line’ limit cuts off about 15 degrees north of us (well into Canada), roughly 1,000 miles north from here."

NOAA space weather physicist Doug Biesecker said there are no reports of damage, but the electrical grid and GPS probably had current fluctuations that they could handle.

He said the storm could last a day or longer.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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