'Severe' solar storm arrives at Earth

LOS ANGELES: A powerful solar storm arrived at Earth on Thursday and may impact ongoing recovery efforts for hurricanes Helene and Milton, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the sun Tuesday evening and arrived at Earth at 11:15 a.m. Eastern Time Thursday at nearly 1.5 million miles per hour (2.4 million km per hour), according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).

The storm reached G4 (Severe) levels, and a G4 or greater Geomagnetic Storm Watch remains in effect Thursday and into Friday, Xinhua news agency reported, citing SWPC.

SWPC continues to issue multiple warnings and alerts for geomagnetic storm conditions.

This storm could impact ongoing recovery efforts for hurricanes Helene and Milton in several critical ways, including communication disruptions, power grids stress, and degraded GPS services, according to NOAA.

When skies are clear, the aurora could be visible as far south as Alabama and northern California Thursday night.

CMEs are explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun's corona. They cause geomagnetic storms when they are directed at Earth.