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BREAKING: Widespread auroral displays possible in the northern/central U.S. and much of Europe! NOAA is now forecasting a *SEVERE* geomagnetic storm – reaching G4 level on the 1 through 5 scale – on June 2. That corresponds with Sunday night/Monday morning U.S. time. Widespread displays of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, are expected across North America. Most of the northern United States could have the aurora overhead, and parts of the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Plains, Rockies and even Northern California may be able to see curtains to the north. A rare "G4" geomagnetic watch has been hoisted by the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado – indicating they are unusually confident in direct Earth impacts. The instigating "coronal mass ejection," or burst of solar material and magnetic energy, exploded off the sun on Friday evening. It was initially moving toward earth at 1,200 miles per second – that's very fast. (It slows down a bit with time and distance.) When that electromagnetic energy collides with Earth's magnetic field, it's transformed into visible light – the aurora. We know the energy Earth-directed because our sensors depict a “full halo." See the solar material appearing to fan out in all directions? That’s an indicator it’s Earth-bound. It’s like if a train is coming right at you — you’d only see the train getting bigger. In addition, some critical electric infrastructure could be impacted, but utility operators will be able to take protective measures ahead of time.