Geopolitics
4 min read
Massive Solar Storm: Witness Auroras and Signal Disruptions
Hindustan Times
January 21, 2026•1 day ago

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Earth experienced its most powerful solar storm in over two decades on Tuesday, triggered by an X-class solar flare. This significant geomagnetic event caused disruptions but also produced spectacular auroras visible as far south as California. The storm peaked at severe status, impacting Earth's magnetic field and allowing charged particles to penetrate deeper into the atmosphere.
The Earth just recorded its largest and most-powerful solar storm on Tuesday night. As per Live Science, the sun unleashed a powerful X-class solar flare, the largest in 23 years. While the solar storm did bring around certain disruptions, accompanying these issues were beautiful northern lights as far as Southern California.
Auroras were spotted over in California, Greenland, Austria, Germany and more.
Also Read | Tonight’s northern lights forecast is strong but these 3 past aurora shows in US were epic
Largest storm since 2023
As per report by Space.com, the geomagnetic storm began on Monday after a fast-moving cloud of solar radiation slammed into the Earth's stratosphere. This incident temporarily disrupted the invisible magnetic field lines surrounding the Earth and allowed charged particles to penetrate deeper into the atmosphere.
Activity peaked at 2:38 pm EST once the storm reached "severe status" as per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in the US.
Another SWPC report added that the storm clamed and reached G4 status again on Tuesday.
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