A historic solar storm impacted Earth throughout the night on Friday, 10 May 2023 and continued into Saturday, 11 May 2024. The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) Space Weather Centre issued several G4 warnings and, for the first time since 2003, one G5 warning was issued. The Geomagnetic Storm Scale indicates the severity of geomagnetic storms. It is denoted by a G followed by a number from 1 to 5, with 1 being a minor event, and 5 being an extreme event. 

A geomagnetic storm occurs when charged particles from the Sun, caused by a coronal mass ejection (CME), interact with the Earth’s magnetic field. The impact of such a storm is mostly on technological systems, however, it is also the origin of the northern and southern lights. There were several reports of Aurora Australis also known as the Southern Lights being visible over the Southern tip of Africa. Reports of Southern light sightings were reported from Gansbaai in the Western Cape and Namibia among others.

Auroras are caused by the energetic particles from the Sun as it interacts with the gasses in the upper atmosphere.  

Jon Ward, acting Executive Director at SANSA Space Science in Hermanus noted that this is the largest geomagnetic storm that has been observed in a very long time.