On January 19 2026, the largest solar radiation storm since October 2003 hit the earth, temporarily disrupting the magnetic fields on the planet. It was ranked at a level 4 out of 5 levels on the severity scale. The storm started at 2:38pm, and reached across most of the northern hemisphere.

Solar radiation storms are usually caused by large amounts of energy, particles, and magnetic fields emitted from the sun, travelling millions of miles at the speed of light, and eventually reaching the earth, entering it’s atmosphere. Which causes the bright, colorful, glows that happen in the sky.

Despite claims saying that this storm was the biggest storm that has ever happened since the storm that happened in October of 2003, however this is just an extreme exaggeration, as this title actually belongs to the solar storm that happened on “The Mother’s Day Storm” of May 2024, which reached a high of 5/5 on the severity scale, while the storm that recently happened only reached a high of 4/5 .

This storm not only caused some trouble on earth, but for astronauts in space stations, as said in a CNN Article “Heightened radiation can also pose risks to satellites we rely on for communications and navigation” (January 20, 2026, Strickland).

According to a Livescience article the storm also hit most of Europe, stating “There were widespread aurora displays across the U.K. and parts of Europe — including France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Croatia” (January 21st 2026, Baker).

The storm went on and off again, throughout the span of a few days before slowly dying down, extending all the way to the 25th of January.