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Heat Wave Expands to the East Coast; Flash Flooding Likely in the Central Plains into the Midwest; Severe Thunderstorms in the Northeast

Dangerous, prolonged heat is ongoing in the Mid-South to Mid-Mississippi Valley and heat expands into the Northeast for a brief period today. Widely scattered instances of flash flooding due to heavy rains are forecast from northeast Kansas to much of Indiana. Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms are possible across parts of New England, northern Mid-Atlantic, and North Dakota. Read More >

Overview

The May 10-11, 2024 Northern Lights, also called Aurora Borealis, were seen by many Iowans as well as many Americans in lower latitudes across the continental United States for those fortunate to be under a cloud free sky. For Iowans, many have not seen the Northern Lights this vividly with hues of red, green, blue, pink, and/or purple in decades if not perhaps in some lifetimes. Also atypical with this event was that the Northern Lights were visible as early as sunset and into the evening allowing many to see them without having to trek out at an insanely early morning hour.

Most of our event summaries focus on severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, river and flash flooding, and winter events. While the experts in space weather and space weather forecasting are at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), given the rarity of a Geomagnetic Storm classified as a G5 (the highest on the Geomagnetic Storm scale) and the widespread impact over Iowa in the form of the Northern Lights, it seemed prudent to catalog this event. 

News reports also noted impacts to GPS in some parts of the United States. This impacted systems such as farming equipment that require a high level of precision for spring planting,

Thanks to the many Iowans who shared their images on social media and to the ones below for allowing permission to use their photos.

 

Page last updated: June 17, 2024 9:45 PM

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Oskaloosa
(Photo Credit: Taylor Crall)
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