While the solar storm did bring around certain disruptions, accompanying these issues were beautiful northern lights as far as Southern California.
The Earth just recorded its largest and most-powerful solar storm on Tuesday night. As per Live Science, the sun unleashed a powerful X-class solar flare, the largest in 23 years. While the solar storm did bring around certain disruptions, accompanying these issues were beautiful northern lights as far as Southern California.
Auroras were spotted over in California, Greenland, Austria, Germany and more.
Largest storm since 2023
As per report by Space.com, the geomagnetic storm began on Monday after a fast-moving cloud of solar radiation slammed into the Earth’s stratosphere. This incident temporarily disrupted the invisible magnetic field lines surrounding the Earth and allowed charged particles to penetrate deeper into the atmosphere.
Activity peaked at 2:38 pm EST once the storm reached “severe status” as per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in the US.
Another SWPC report added that the storm clamed and reached G4 status again on Tuesday.
Auroras viewed in many countries
Due to this solar activity, aurora displays were seen across the UK, Europe and the United States.
Took a break on our drive home from #SPNVegas and spotted the aurora from the southern California desert just after sunset! pic.twitter.com/iBNQ4Iidl6
— ❄️ Liz Madsen ❄️🎇🎆🎉🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@Paleonut_) January 20, 2026