Largest solar storm in over 20 years brings beautiful auroras, signal issues

While the solar storm did bring around certain disruptions, accompanying these issues were beautiful northern lights as far as Southern California.

Updated on: Jan 21, 2026, 08:33:28 IST

By HT News Desk

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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.

Aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, is seen in the sky above Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, (AP)

Auroras were spotted over in California, Greenland, Austria, Germany and more.

Also Read | Tonight’s northern lights forecast is strong but these 3 past aurora shows in US were epic

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.

France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada and Croatia also reportedly witnessed auroras.

For the US, it was predicted that the auroras would be visible across 24 states. As per an AP report, social media was lit up with aurora photos from places such as Alaska, San Francisco, Chicago.

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HT News Desk
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