More Auroras possible - Sun stays stormy

The Earth isn’t the only place that is seeing a few summer storms, so is the Sun.

A major solar flare erupted from the Sun earlier Wednesday, causing radio interference and some satellite communications issues over Asia and India. There have been several other flares in the same region of the sun as solar storm activity remains in overdrive.

Forecasters did not observe any earth-bound coronal mass ejections with these flares, but data is still being analyzed. A CME can produce auroras outside of the polar regions several days after leaving the sun’s surface, especially over northern Europe, southern Canada and the northern U.S.

We’ll keep an eye on the forecast and provide updates for auroras.

The sun is in its solar maximum, the 11-year cycle when it produces its most sunspots, coronal mass ejections and geomagnetic storms on Earth. The sun has been working overtime the last couple weeks and last Thursday, the sun likely produced its most sunspots since at least 2002.

Late Sunday and early Monday, energy from a coronal mass ejection from the sun passed the Earth, producing aurora into middle latitudes. Many places across the northern U.S. and southern Canada, including New England and Great Lakes were able to capture the views of auroras.

Additional views of the Aurora are likely over the next several months as the sun remains locked in its peak for the next several months.