Overview
- NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center posted a rare G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm watch for Nov. 12, following a G2 watch Tuesday and preceding a G3 watch Thursday.
- Auroras were reported Tuesday night across multiple states, with sightings and photos from Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana and the Cincinnati area.
- Forecasts say the lights could reach as far south as Alabama and northern California, with the best viewing in most places between about 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time.
- The heightened activity follows multiple recent X‑class solar flares, including an X5.1 event, with several coronal mass ejections tracking toward Earth.
- Officials caution that severe geomagnetic conditions can disrupt HF radio, GPS, satellites and power systems, and that intensity depends on the CME’s magnetic orientation near arrival.