SEVERE #GEOMAGNETIC STORM: Arriving earlier than expected, a #CME hit #Earth's magnetic field on April 23rd at 1737 UT, sparking a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm. Auroras spread across Europe with sightings as far south as #France. Bright red auroras were also reported in #China.

The storm is still going on and it is producing visible auroras across North America. Mid-latitude sightings include North Carolina, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, California and Oklahoma.

"My pulse is still racing!" says Heiko Ulbricht, who watched the aurora show from Saxony, #Germany. "There were bright green spots dancing across the sky all the way up to the zenith." This is what he saw:

"This was a display not to be forgotten," he says. Similar green blobs were photographed in #Poland and France. These are unusual structures, which we will discuss further after the storm is over.

The auroras in Europe were so bright, they could be seen even from brightly-lit urban areas. Thomas Hunger sends this report from Berlin, Germany: "I run Northern Lights tours in Tromsø, Norway, but would have never dreamt of seeing auroras from my home town of Berlin. I stepped on the balcony and enjoyed a sight that in a city of 4 million inhabitants might just have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

https://spaceweather.com/