After Helene and Milton, a severe solar storm could further stress power grids

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected earlier this week. Such a storm could temporarily disrupt power and radio signals.

Experts are more concerned about potential effects to the power grids in areas slammed by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, said NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl.

Florida is far enough south to avoid any power disruptions from the solar surge unless it gets a lot bigger, said scientist Rob Steenburgh of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center.

The storm also may trigger northern lights as far south in the U.S. as the lower Midwest and Northern California, though exact locations and times are uncertain, according to NOAA.

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