The scary Halloween solar storm of 2003: a warning for today’s space weather

The scary Halloween solar storm of 2003: a warning for today’s space weather

·        By Steve Tracton

 

 

Via USGS: “The Halloween magnetic storm in 2003 produced spectacular aurora, with green phantom ‘northern lights’ seen as far south as Texas and Florida.”

Ten years ago, the sun provided an unexpected extra dimension to the tricks and treats of Halloween.  The trick was a solar-terrestrial nightmare coming to life. The treat was a spectacular aurora “with green phantom ‘northern lights’ seen as far south as Texas and Florida“.

The solar storm or coronal mass ejection (CME) responsible for this event occurred well after the peak of Solar Cycle 23 in April 2000.  It followed months of quiet solar activity characteristic of the waning phase of an average solar cycle. The quiet period ended abruptly and without warning in mid-October with series of solar storms that extended through much of November.

The storm ranks as one of the largest outbreaks of solar activity in recent history (reference: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/Services/SWstorms_assessment.pdf ). As such it may serve as portent – and heads-up – of what we might expect following the current near peak of Solar Cycle 24 (see more below).

The leading edge of the Halloween CME impacted the Earth’s magnetic field on October 29. It produced a G5 (“extreme”) geomagnetic storm which lasted for twenty seven hours.

 

The original link can be found at:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/10/31/the-scary-halloween-solar-storm-of-2003-a-warning-for-todays-space-weather/