A geomagnetic storm is expected to blast Earth tomorrow after the sun fired a plume of plasma and high-energy particles toward our planet.

The incoming coronal mass ejection (CME) was unleashed on Sunday at 5.40pm ET when an enormous sunspot spontaneously erupted.

The spout of solar plasma is currently rocketing toward our planet at over 650,000 miles per hour and expected to reach Earth by midday Eastern Time on Wednesday (5pm UK, 2am AEST). But the CME will only glance off the planet’s magnetosphere, or the region of space around a planet dominated by its magnetic field.  Normally, this slight blow wouldn’t trigger a geomagnetic storm. But because it will arrive so close to the fall equinox – which occurred on Sunday – NOAA has forecasted a minor G1 storm for tomorrow. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center classifies geomagnetic storms on a scale that ranges from G1 to G5 – with G1 being ‘minor’ and G5 being ‘extreme.’

A G5 storm can significantly disrupt infrastructure, causing power and communication blackouts across wide areas.

We won’t have to worry about that with this upcoming G1 storm, however. This type of storm only has a slight risk of impacting infrastructure at high latitudes, including cellphone towers and satellites.

But it could trigger dazzling auroras along the horizon of US states on the northern border and upper Midwest states, according to NOAA. 

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