'Cannibal' solar storm could paint auroras above 18 US states this Labor Day

A "cannibalistic" solar storm is about to slam into Earth's magnetic field, triggering vibrant auroras that will potentially be visible in up to 18 different U.S. states, just in time for Labor Day.

On Saturday (Aug. 30), sunspot 4204, located near the sun's equator, unleashed a long-duration, M-class solar flare — the second most powerful type of eruption our home star's surface is capable of producing. The M2.7 magnitude blast, which occurred over more than 3 hours, also spat out a fast-moving cloud of magnetized plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), which NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft revealed was "heading straight for Earth," according to Spaceweather.com.

However, less than 24 hours later, further analysis of the Earthbound solar storm revealed that it was actually made up of two different CMEs that had been ejected back-to-back during the flare, space weather expert and forecaster Tabitha Skov, wrote on X. Since then, the second and largest of the two plasma clouds has caught up to and consumed the first, creating a larger and more chaotic mass, known as a cannibal CME, that will hit Earth's magnetic field in the later hours of today (Sept. 1).

When the conjoined solar storms arrive, the resulting impact will temporarily disrupt our planet's protective shield, allowing charged particles to penetrate deep into the atmosphere where they can excite gas molecules and trigger the Northern Lights.

The disturbance, known as a geomagnetic storm, will likely reach G2 (moderate) class, but could also escalate to a G3 (strong) storm at its peak, according to a recent forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center.

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The resulting auroras will be visible much farther south in the U.S. than normal, potentially appearing in as many as 18 states. These will include Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, South Dakota, Vermont, New Hampshire, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, New York, Wyoming, Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, Live Science's sister site Space.com reported.

The auroras will likely be most visible in the early hours of tomorrow (Sept. 2) and will be clearest in areas away from major cities, where there is minimal light pollution. But if you cannot see them with the naked eye, you may still be able to photograph them.

Cannibal solar storms are rare. However, there have been several examples in recent years, including a significant event in December 2023 and another example in August last year.

There have also been several major geomagnetic storms in the last 18 months, including a supercharged G5 (extreme) disturbance in May 2024, which painted widespread auroras across the globe, scrambled GPS systems and birthed a new "radiation belt" around our planet. Experts have since revealed that the damages from this storm exceeded $500 million.

The recent peak in solar activity can be attributed to solar maximum — the most active phase of the sun's roughly 11-year solar cycle, when the number and size of sunspots and solar storms rise sharply.

Experts now believe that the current solar maximum has likely come to a close. However, there has been a mini-resurgence in activity in recent weeks, such as a giant solar tornado that raged on the sun's surface for multiple days in late August.

Solar activity will also likely remain high in the coming months and years due to continued instability within the sun's magnetic field.