G3 Storm Reached on New Year's Day of 2025!

The second CME arrived overnight and welcomed New Year's Day in with a geomagnetic storm! This follow-up CME reached our solar wind spacecraft observatories at about 8:57pm EST on December 31st, 2024. This CME became just as strong as its predecessor, however, this second CME (unlike the first CME) was favorable for escalated geomagnetic disturbances at Earth as it reached nearly 5x normal background of magnetic intensity and the orientation of that field was also pointed opposite Earth's - making for a very good connection and increased geomagnetic response. When a CME's magnetic field is orientated southward - opposite Earth's for prolonged and pronounced periods of time, this intensifies geomagnetic reactions significantly. This is what happened overnight, as our solar wind observatories 1 million miles from Earth measured a strong, southward orientated magnetic field in the CME and it has remained so through its passage thus far. G3 (Strong) levels were first reached January 1st, 2025, at 9:10am EST. However, G1 (Minor) conditions were first alerted for on Dec 31st at 11:58pm EST - just minutes before the new year of 2025. G2 (Moderate) levels were first observed by 5:44am EST on January 1st. Will the CME passage remain strong enough and continue into the evening and night hours on New Year's night for North America? We cannot say as of yet, as we don't know the depth of CMEs. Continue to keep informed with the latest forecasts, information, and updates by visiting our SWPC webpage.