COLUMBUS (WCMH) — A powerful eruption from the sun’s surface early on June 1 sent charged particles streaming toward Earth at more than four million miles per hour, which could provide a view of the northern lights across portions of the United States and Canada.

The best time to look for the shimmering display of color will be after midnight due to persistent hazy skies from Canadian wildfire smoke, focused on the northern horizon. If the aurora borealis is visible late tonight, this will be in rural areas with darker skies far away from city lights.

The geomagnetic storm reached the level of G4 Sunday morning on a scale of 1 (minor) to 5 (extreme), which brings a higher likelihood of seeing the northern lights farther south than usual, in places such as northern California, Illinois, and the northern Mid-Atlantic region.

What causes the northern lights

A coronal mass ejection (CME) sends electrically charged particles (ions) and magnetic material (energy) hurtling into space at speeds up to 5 million mph, generating currents in the magnetic field, and slamming into Earth in one to four days

When the solar wind collides with Earth’s magnetic field (magnetosphere), charged particles that are not deflected away interact with upper atmospheric gases (oxygen, nitrogen), emitting streaks or curtains of light, known as the aurora borealis in the Northern Hemisphere.

The most common color arising from collisions between solar particles (atoms) and oxygen molecules is green, because the red veils occur higher up in the atmosphere and are harder to view. Nitrogen interactions at lower altitudes trigger blue curtains of light.

Last year on May 10, a G4 storm triggered spectacular views of the northern lights in parts of central Ohio. Another view of the northern lights occurred on Oct. 10, 2024, but was much more limited in our area.

Severe geomagnetic storms can trigger high-frequency communication outages, disrupting GPS and low-frequency satellite navigation systems. In extreme events, the CME voltage load can overwhelm power lines, causing transformers to over heat along the electric energy or power grid, resulting in blackouts that in today’s world would have a major impact on digital world.

Scientists are working on models to develop an advanced warning system, strengthening the power gird and protecting our digital technology.