48 Hours ago, the sun let loose a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) aimed directly at earth. Scientists warned it may cause a Geo-Magnetic Storm. Tonight they have their answer: a "Severe" G4 Geo-magnetic storm is now in progress. Aurora's may be visible down to TEXAS!"
Arriving earlier than expected, a CME hit Earth's magnetic field today, April 23rd, at 1737 UTC. The impact sparked a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm with auroras in Europe as far south as Germany and southern Poland. The storm is subsiding now, currently G3, but it is still strong and could produce auroras over the USA after nightfall. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
"My pulse is still racing!" says Heiko Ulbricht, who watched the aurora show from Saxony, Germany, during the apex of the geomagnetic storm. "There were bright green spots dancing across the sky all the way up to the zenith." The image above is what he saw.
"I still can't breathe," he says. "This was a show not to be forgotten."
The auroras were so bright, they could be seen even from brightly-lit urban areas. Thomas Hunger sends this report from Berlin, Germany: "I run Northern Lights tours in Tromsø, Norway, but would have never dreamt of seeing auroras from my home town of Berlin. I stepped on the balcony and enjoyed a sight that in a city of 4 million inhabitants might just have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
Tomasz Adam had a similar experience in Kraków, Poland: "I saw aurora for the first time in my life," he says. "My photo might not look like much, but I took it from Kraków - one of the most light polluted cities of Poland."
