The strongest geomagnetic storm in three months has hit Earth.

      The storm resulted in widespread auroras that shifted into the Western Hemisphere and covered nearly all of Canada and the northern United States.

      The anomaly was caused by unexpected behavior of solar material. Although a series of recent solar flares was considered safe, part of the ejected plasma was "picked up" by the solar wind and delivered to Earth.

      A G3+ level storm can cause disruptions to power grids, problems with spacecraft, and interruptions to satellite navigation and radio communications. There is no precise forecast for how the situation will develop yet, as it falls outside standard models, report the Solar Astronomy Laboratories of IKI and ISZF. However, the Sun will not stop there, and Earth's magnetic field will remain unstable in the coming days. Thus, another geomagnetic storm is also expected at the beginning of October, but specialists believe it will not be as intense. Still, that intensity will be enough to create a prolonged "echo": for four days after the storm the magnetosphere is forecast to remain disturbed.

      Most likely, the storm may have been caused by recent solar activity: since last Saturday the space telescope SDO has been recording strong flares and other events; scientists have already classified them as M- and C-class.

      "Given that the increase in activity has partially affected the central regions of the Sun, forecasts have raised the risks to Earth, but for now this increase remains theoretical. No concrete events, including large plasma ejections toward the planet, have been recorded so far," the portal gorod55.ru quotes the scientists.