A strong solar storm to hit Earth today, intense display of Northern Lights expected

 A solar flare blasted out from the Sun earlier this week which has caused a solar storm to slowly expand towards the Earth. A geomagnetic storm and an intense display of the Northern Lights is expected across Canada and the northern United States.

On Monday, a sunspot designated as AR2790 emitted a small solar flare. "Monday's C7-class solar flare wasn't very strong, but up close, it was still fairly impressive," space weather scientists said.

The solar flare was pointed almost directly towards the Earth and weather forecasters noted that a "coronal mass ejection (CME)" had erupted from the Sun at the same time.

This will result in some of the sun's energy reaching Earth's atmosphere on Wednesday night and Thursday.

The solar storm can cause communication disruptions such as GPS positioning errors.

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center said that the potential exists for strong storm levels "if the magnetic field carried with the CME connects well with Earth's magnetosphere."

There will also be a pleasant effect of the incoming solar activity as stargazers are able to witness a stunning display of aurora borealis (Northern Lights) as far south as Chicago, Detroit, Boston and Seattle.

Though the most common aurora colour is a luminescent green but the atmosphere could provide a range of colours from red to pink or blue to purple. As per the forecast, the peak of the Northern Lights is for three hours, starting at 10 pm Wednesday (local time). Some solar activity will be possible through December 10.