NOAA issues rare geomagnetic storm watch, aurora in the South possible [Video]

Government officials issued a geomagnetic storm watch for the first time since 2005, as five earth-directed coronal mass ejections were detected on the sun.

The solar flares are expected to begin hitting Earth’s magnetic field on Friday and linger into Sunday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center said that aurora may be visible overnight Friday into Saturday as far south as Alabama.

The Space Weather Prediction Center is forecasting that nearly all of Canada and the U.S.-Canadian border will be able to view an aurora, pending clear skies.

Many northern U.S. states also will have a chance to see the aurora.

“Several strong flares have been observed over the past few days and were associated with a large and magnetically complex sunspot cluster (NOAA region 3664), which is 16 times the diameter of Earth. Additional solar activity is expected from the region,” the Space Weather Prediction …