The coronal mass ejection (CME) that resulted from the solar flare on Thursday has begun hitting the Earth.  Satellite and terrestrial stations began picking up the increase in geomagnetic activity at around 1:00pm MDT Saturday.

The solar flare was a significant one as is the CME however it is not expected to be powerful enough to have any ill effects on earth.  More significant events can affect satellites and even bring down power grids.

Here on Earth the most notable effect will be an increase in aurora activity.  Unfortunately it doesn’t appear the CME is strong enough to push the aurora down to Colorado but areas across the northern latitudes of the contiguous United States may be treated to a show.

Aurora forecasts:

• NOAA OVATION Auroral Forecast
• Auroral Activity Extrapolated from NOAA POES
• ThorntonWeather.com Space Weather page

Related:

• Space Weather 101: Solar flares and coronal mass ejections

The video below from NASA combines various wavelength views from the Solar Dynamic Observatory’s (SDO) AIA instrument.