YULEE, Fla. — Viewer photos flooded in Thursday night after two days of weather effects from Hurricane Milton. As skies cleared, locals from Southeast Georgia to Jacksonville's Northside got a glimpse of a rare sight: the Northern Lights.
This May, the Northern Lights were visible Jacksonville for the first time since 1989. Prior to that, it was in September of 1941 during the Aurora blitz.
YOUR PHOTOS: Northern Lights illuminate Florida & Georgia skies
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected earlier this week. Such a storm could temporarily disrupt power and radio signals.
NOAA has notified operators of power plants and orbiting spacecraft to take precautions. It also alerted the Federal Emergency Management Agency about possible power disruptions, as the organization copes with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene and gears up for Hurricane Milton barreling across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.
Forecasters do not expect the latest solar storm to surpass the one that slammed Earth in May, the strongest in more than two decades. But they won't know for sure until it's just 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away, where spacecraft can measure it.
Florida is far enough south to avoid any power disruptions from the solar surge unless it gets a lot bigger, said scientist Rob Steenburgh of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
