A major solar storm — the second-strongest in five years — has struck Earth, lasting more than 40 hours and producing vivid Aurora Borealis displays across much of the Northern Hemisphere.
Scientists confirmed that the intense event was triggered by a massive solar flare originating from an active region of the sun that had already produced a larger eruption just two days earlier. The earlier flare caused the most severe geomagnetic storm since May 2024.
Researchers say the latest flares show “no sign of abating” as solar activity continues to climb.
The storm reached an estimated G4.7 on the NOAA geomagnetic scale, where G5 is considered an “extreme” event. The blast disrupted communications and GPS accuracy, according to the British Geological Survey, with the so-called “cannibal storm” sending multiple waves of charged solar particles crashing into Earth’s magnetic field.
Geomagnetic storms occur when coronal mass ejections — vast eruptions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun — slam into the planet, affecting both technology and in some cases sensitive individuals.
This week’s storm generated auroras visible far beyond their usual Arctic boundaries, lighting up skies across Canada and the United States, and reaching as far south as Florida and Alabama.
NASA officials told Space.com that astronauts aboard the International Space Station temporarily moved into a shielded compartment because of elevated radiation levels associated with the incoming high-energy particles.
A spectacular view of an aurora borealis pic.twitter.com/ATOq1AF3wj
— ✨ (@astro4pics) November 13, 2025
Imagine what our ancestors thought. pic.twitter.com/XKeFnicn5q
— Vincent Kennedy (@VincentCrypt46) November 12, 2025
And the Van Allen belts protected us.
Pay no heed to the sun’s eruptions folks. It’s not the sun causing the climate to change – it’s your cows farting.
Fortunately the biggest cow moved over seas, less volatile hot air now.
“Scientists confirmed”…. “Researchers say”…