Denizens of the great white north should watch the skies this weekend as the Northern Lights should be in blossom following this week's massive solar eruptions.

Scientists warned that the geomagnetic storm that occurred on June 6 sent a flood of highly charged particles speeding toward Earth that could have affected high-orbiting satellites and Earth-based communications.

The brunt of the energy wave struck the Earth shortly after 5 a.m., EDT (09:00 GMT) Thursday but no major disruptions occurred and there were no reports of the brilliant auroras often associated with such events.

Reports posted on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Environment Center predicted solar activity would increase to "active to minor storming" on Thursday and increase to "major storm conditions, especially at higher latitudes," on Friday.

Solar flares and eruptions pose no direct risk to humans on Earth but they can disrupt radio communications and damage satellites in space. They also have the potential to endanger astronauts in space and can cause electric surges on Earth that could damage power grids.

Auroras, also known the Northern Lights in the northern hemisphere, are the result of electromagnetic particles from the sun interacting with a magnetic field that surrounds Earth.

Auroral activity from the solar ejection of earlier this week so far has been restricted to sparsely populated regions of the northern Pacific and northeastern Russia.

"The magnetic fields embedded within the disturbance are gradually becoming less capable of generating auroral storm activity," according to scientists with the Solar Terrestrial Dispatch Network (STDN).

STDN scientists say the next viewing opportunity for auroras comes Saturday night.

"There is a distinct possibility for periods of localized auroral sub-storming that may be intense enough to observe from many middle-latitude locations," according to the STDN. "However, without a change in the pattern we are currently seeing in the solar wind, auroral activity won't be as big and bright as we had originally hoped it might be."

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Coronal Mass Ejection, imaged by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory on June 6, 2000

In an alert issued Wednesday by the Solar Terrestrial Dispatch Network, which provides independent analysis and forecasts of solar and related geophysical activity, the disturbance has the potential to produce periods of "significant and intense auroral activity over widespread middle- and possibly some low-latitude regions."

The most likely date of an auroral occurrence, states STDN, is Friday, although this will depend on when the charged particles from the sun encounter Earth's upper atmosphere.

Auroral displays may be more apparent after moonset on Thursday and Friday night (about two to three hours after midnight on those nights). Look above the northern horizon for a diffuse glow in the sky. It may range in color from deep red to green and, depending on intensity, may possibly contain streamers or "draperies."

- Jeff Kanipe
Special to SPACE.com