The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), formerly the National Weather Service, reported this Friday “extreme geomagnetic conditions” for the first time since October 2003 that could persist over the weekend.
This geomagnetic storm has the potential to severely harm the energy and electricity supply in different parts of the Earth, but it is also expected to leave unusual phenomena such as the northern lights in areas as diverse as southern Alabama or northern California.
NOAA, the scientific agency in charge of monitoring the conditions of the atmosphere and oceans, issued an alert on the G5 scale (the maximum on a G1-G5 scale) after several days of intense solar activity that increased this Friday, as reported in a statement issued on their social networks.
A G5 geomagnetic storm can cause widespread voltage control problems on the power grid, damage transformers, and even cause complete blackouts.