In Pics! G4 storm: Earth gets a free aurora light show

The night of November 12‑13 turned into a cosmic light show as a G4 (Severe) geomagnetic storm slammed Earth’s magnetic field. From the rolling hills of Scotland to the deserts of Texas, people watched curtains of green, red and purple ripple across the heavens—auroras visible as far south as Texas, USA and even northern India.

What fuels the dazzling auroras?

• Solar wind—a stream of charged particles (electrons and protons) spews from the Sun’s corona.
• Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) blast huge clouds of magnetised plasma toward Earth.

When these particles hit our magnetosphere, they’re guided toward the poles, colliding with atmospheric gases like oxygen (green, red) and nitrogen (blue, purple). The result? The spectacular dance of the aurora borealis and aurora australis.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a G4 alert at 0120 UTC (8:20 pm EST), warning that the storm would persist through the night. The European Space Agency (ESA) echoed the severity, noting that while there’s no direct biological risk, the storm could stress satellites, power infrastructure and navigation systems.

Northern Lights illuminate the night sky in Valtournenche, Aosta Valley, Italy, on Wednesday. Matterhorn Ski Paradise And Feratel/via Reuters

Why this storm is a big deal?

Historical context: The 2025 event ranks among the strongest since the 2003 Halloween storm and echoes the 1859 Carrington Event in scale of impact.

Sightings stretched from Europe and North America to Australia, making it one of the most widely observed aurora events in recent memory.