A solar storm treated British Columbians to a Northern Lights display Friday night – and it could continue through the weekend.
The lights were visible from downtown Vancouver to Victoria to Penticton to Prince George and beyond.
The storm was initially just expected for Friday night and into the early hours of Saturday (May 11), but now Space Weather Canada says a major geomagnetic storm warning is in effect until 6 a.m. (Pacific Time) Sunday.
The United State’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the first coronal mass ejections – which are ejections of plasma from the corona of the sun that can lead to solar flares like the Northern Lights – first reached Earth around 12:30 p.m. Friday.
“This is an unusual and potentially historic event,” said Clinton Wallace, director of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
READ MORE: Raging solar storm could turn Northern Lights into a B.C.-wide show
