A severe geomagnetic storm could disrupt communications and bring northern lights to parts of California, according to a warning from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A "severe" solar storm could make the northern lights visible in the U.S. farther south than usual while also posing the potential to disrupt modern technology.

A severe solar storm is headed to Earth that could stress power grids even more as the U.S. deals with major back-to-back hurricanes, space weather forecasters said Wednesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected earlier this week.