This week's historic northern lights display seen from Minnesota to Arizona could carry a temporary flight risk.
It's being described as one of the strongest storms in decades, and it treated sky watchers in Minnesota to the northern lights while also delivering rare bright sightings as far south as Florida.
Former WCCO meteorologist Mike Lynch says the storm was so strong that there was a temporary warning for flights over the North Pole.
"There was some concern for people who were flying over the North Pole, because of the strong solar storm radiation levels were a little bit higher than normal," Lynch explains. "I don't know if people were in danger, but definitely radiation levels were higher."
Lynch adds the lights may be visible one last time Wednesday night in Minnesota and elsewhere, but they won't be as vibrant as they were on Tuesday.
Lynch says he can't recall a stronger storm, that pushed the aurora borealis as far south as Arizona where he was trying to capture the lights on his camera.
"Well, I'm an astro-photographer and I'm in southern Arizona," says Lynch. "You get some really good photographs, not of northern lights. That was the last thing I was expecting. But the solar storm last night was just so strong."
When fast-moving particles and plasma slam into Earth’s magnetic field, they can temporarily disrupt the power grid too. Space weather can also interfere with air traffic control radio and satellites in orbit. Severe storms are capable of scrambling other radio and GPS communications.
In 1859, a severe solar storm triggered auroras as far south as Hawaii and set telegraph lines on fire in a rare event. And a 1972 solar storm may have detonated magnetic U.S. sea mines off the coast of Vietnam.
Space weather experts aren’t able to predict a solar storm months in advance. Instead, they alert relevant parties to prepare in the days before a solar outburst hits Earth.