By_Suraj Karowa/ ANW
November 13, 2025 – Washington, D.C.
In a cosmic spectacle that painted the night skies with ethereal greens and purples, a ferocious “cannibal storm” from the sun has unleashed auroras visible as far south as Florida and Alabama—territories rarely graced by the northern lights.
This geomagnetic frenzy, one of the most intense in two decades, not only captivated skywatchers but also rattled satellite operators, power grids, and even delayed a high-profile Mars mission.
As the third wave of solar eruptions slams into Earth today, experts warn of escalating disruptions and more dazzling displays through Thursday.
The drama began midweek when the sun, in the throes of its solar maximum phase, belched out a trio of X-class flares—the most powerful category—from a hyperactive sunspot region dubbed AR 14274.
These flares, akin to nuclear blasts on the solar surface, hurled coronal mass ejections (CMEs) toward Earth at speeds exceeding a million miles per hour.
CMEs are vast bubbles of plasma and magnetic fields that, upon colliding with our planet’s magnetosphere, whip up geomagnetic storms.
What made this event uniquely ferocious was its “cannibal” nature, as described by the British Geological Survey (BGS). Two CMEs launched just hours apart on Monday, with the faster second one overtaking and merging with the slower first en route.
“The second gobbled up the first, amplifying their combined fury by the time they reached us,” explained BGS geomagnetism team lead Dr. Gemma Richardson.
This merger supercharged the storm, classifying it initially as G3 (strong) on the five-level scale, with potential to spike to G4 (severe) or even G5 (extreme).
Tuesday night’s auroral ballet was breathtaking. From Whitley Bay’s St. Mary’s Lighthouse in England’s northeast to Monroe, Wisconsin, and Johnston, Iowa, ribbons of light danced overhead. In the U.S. South, residents in Cross Lanes, West Virginia, and even Tampa, Florida, reported vivid glows—pushed equator world by the storm’s intensity.
“It’s like the sky is on fire with color,” tweeted one Florida observer, sharing a phone snapshot that captured what the naked eye missed.
The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) at NOAA confirmed the storm’s reach: auroras could extend to Northern California and Alabama tonight, with the northern U.S. tier—stretching from Washington state to Maine—poised for prime viewing Wednesday evening. “Clear, dark skies are your best bet,” advised SWPC forecaster Shawn Dahl. “Cameras often reveal more than our eyes can.”
Yet beauty belies peril. Geomagnetic storms induce currents in power lines, risking blackouts, and scramble GPS signals, threatening aviation and farming.
The BGS recorded the largest geoelectric field since 2012—3.5 volts per kilometer in Scotland’s Shetland Islands—enough to stress transformers and potentially cause overheating.
“This is uncharted territory for modern infrastructure,” Richardson cautioned. U.S. grid operators received SWPC alerts, while UK counterparts were monitored closely. No major outages have hit yet, but vigilance is key.
Spacefarers felt the sting acutely.
Blue Origin scrubbed Wednesday’s launch of NASA’s Escapade mission—twin satellites bound for Mars aboard the New Glenn rocket—due to solar radiation risks. “Elevated activity could fry onboard electronics,” the company posted on X. Jeff Bezos’ venture is scouting rescheduled windows, underscoring how our sun’s tantrums can ground ambitions light-years away.
This outburst crowns a banner year for solar drama. The sun’s 11-year cycle peaked in October 2024, but as it wanes, the most potent flares often emerge, per solar physicist Ryan French of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. AR 14274, now rotating sunward and out of Earth’s crosshairs, still simmers with X-flare potential.
“Fewer spots mean fewer events overall, but the big ones pack more punch,” French noted. Tuesday’s particle storm, the largest since 2005, echoed the cycle’s wild side.
History offers sobering parallels. The May 2024 G5 storm disrupted John Deere’s GPS-guided tractors but spared grids major harm—a far cry from 2003’s blackouts in Sweden or the 1859 Carrington Event, which ignited telegraph wires. October 2024’s storm ranks as this cycle’s second-fiercest; Tuesday’s claims third, per French.
As the third CME arrived Wednesday afternoon, SWPC updated: “Magnetic energy levels are building—expect auroral escalation.” Dahl highlighted the wildcard: CME orientation. “If southward-facing, storms intensify rapidly, as we saw last night.”
Particle detectors at Lagrange Point 1, a million miles sunward, clocked the onslaught’s velocity and field strength, feeding real-time forecasts.
For aurora chasers, the show peaks in polar realms but spills southward during G4+ events. Gases like oxygen (green) and nitrogen (purple) ionize under proton bombardment, birthing the light show. UK viewers in Scotland, northern England, and Northern Ireland should scan horizons tonight, per BGS.
Broader implications loom. Heightened activity could snag communications, with airlines rerouting polar flights and satellite firms maneuvering orbits. Yet it thrills: social media buzzes with #Aurora watch, from Alaska lodges to English moors.
As solar maximum fades, French muses on resilience. “We’ve hardened systems since Carrington, but events like this test us.” For now, gaze upward—Earth’s magnetic shield holds, turning fury into fleeting art.