CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Severe Geomagnetic (G4) Storm Watch for June 1 and 2. According to the experts at SWPC, a rare, elevated solar flare occurred Friday night into Saturday morning.

The flare was associated with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (or CME). A CME is an eruption of solar material and magnetic fields, and can lead to a geomagnetic storm when it arrives on Earth.

The CME peaked Sunday morning, earlier than expected, so our chances of seeing something in the Carolinas have dwindled. However, solar storms are extremely hard to forecast , so there's still a low chance tonight.

How do we know?

You may have heard of something called the Kp index (or Planetary K-index), which is used to break down the magnitude of geomagnetic st

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