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Keep an eye on the skies starting Friday night for what could be a dazzling display of nature \u2014 or not, depending on your location and weather conditions.<\/p>\n
An unusual amount of solar flare activity means that the aurora borealis (also known as the northern and southern lights, depending on your hemisphere) could appear in the sky as an arc of green light.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re in a place with a lot of bright lights \u2014 like a city \u2014 it\u2019s going to be hard to see anything. And then there are other complications, like the weather.<\/p>\n
The Northeast is likely to be blanketed in clouds on Friday night. In the Midwest, the skies could be clear after a storm system moves through.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
With this intensity of solar storm activity, it\u2019s possible the lights could be visible as far south as northern Alabama and Georgia, where night skies are expected to be relatively clear.<\/p>\n
The southern Plains and Rockies, however, might have relatively poor viewing conditions.<\/p>\n
On the West Coast, conditions should remain relatively cloud-free, which could make for good viewing.<\/p>\n
Some of the lights may also be visible outside of the United States, in places like Denmark<\/a> and other parts of Scandinavia.<\/p>\n In parts of Britain, there\u2019s a good chance the lights will be visible, according to the country\u2019s Met Space Weather Operations Center.<\/p>\n \u201cWith plenty of clear skies in the forecast, there is a good chance of seeing the Aurora across the northern half of the UK,\u201d the agency said on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Indeed, images of the lights over England<\/a> just before midnight local time started to surface on social media, including photos from London, despite the city\u2019s light pollution.<\/p>\n A tip: If you are in a clear area, even south of where the aurora is forecast, snap a picture or record a video with your cellphone.<\/p>\n The sensor on the camera is more sensitive to the wavelengths produced by the aurora and may produce an image you can\u2019t see with the naked eye.<\/p>\n A severe solar storm is brewing.<\/p>\n The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s Space Weather Prediction Center on Friday issued a rare warning after a solar outburst reached Earth.<\/p>\n As nuclear reactions occur on the sun, it routinely expels material from its surface.<\/p>\n Officials said that the solar activity could potentially cause electrical outages or interfere with navigation and communication systems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The emissions can affect satellites orbiting close to Earth as well as infrastructure on the ground, leading to disruptions in navigation systems, radio communications and even the power grid.<\/p>\n The warning isn\u2019t really targeted for members of the public, so just go about your day as you normally would. (Except maybe look up at the nighttime sky a little longer.)<\/p>\n \u201cFor most people here on planet Earth, they won\u2019t have to do anything,\u201d said Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist at NOAA\u2019s Space Weather Prediction Center. \u201cIf everything is working like it should, the grid will be stable and they\u2019ll be able to go about their daily lives.\u201d<\/p>\n The expelled material from the sun could reach Earth\u2019s atmosphere by Friday afternoon or evening, officials said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re expecting over the next couple of days should be more significant than what we\u2019ve seen, certainly so far,\u201d Mike Bettwy, the operations chief at NOAA\u2019s Space Weather Prediction Center, said at a news conference on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Space Weather Prediction Center said on Friday night that we were experiencing an extreme solar storm, a level 5<\/a>, up from a level 4 earlier in the day<\/a>.<\/p>\n The last extreme event happened in October 2003 and resulted in power failures in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa, the center said.<\/p>\n The current storm is caused by a cluster of sunspots \u2014 dark, cool regions on the solar surface. The cluster is flaring and ejecting material every six to 12 hours.<\/p>\n \u201cWe anticipate that we\u2019re going to get one shock after another through the weekend,\u201d said Brent Gordon, chief of the space weather services branch at NOAA\u2019s Space Weather Prediction Center.<\/p>\n Katrina Miller and Judson Jones contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhy is this happening?<\/h2>\n
It sounds alarming but don\u2019t worry.<\/h2>\n
When is this happening?<\/h2>\n
What\u2019s flaring up?<\/h2>\n