CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth produced stunning displays of color in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere early Saturday, with no immediate reports of disruptions to power and communications.

Minnesota saw a beautiful northern lights show, and viewing was even possible in the heart of the Twin Cities where light pollution is the strongest.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects of the Northern Lights, which were prominently on display in Britain, were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.

Many in the U.K. shared phone snaps of the lights on social media early Saturday, with the phenomenon seen as far south as London and southern England.

There were sightings “from top to tail across the country,” said Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, Britain’s weather agency. He added that the office received photos and information from other European locations including Prague and Barcelona.

NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to take precautions.

“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the U.S. as Alabama and Northern California, NOAA said. But it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of color normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues.

“That’s really the gift from space weather: the aurora,” Steenburgh said. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.

Snap a picture of the sky and “there might be actually a nice little treat there for you,” said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center.

The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii. “We are not anticipating that” but it could come close, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said.

This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people’s homes, Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth.

An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.

Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted.

The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.

The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot that’s 16 times the diameter of Earth, NOAA said. It is all part of the solar activity ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle.

NASA said the storm posed no serious threat to the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The biggest concern is the increased radiation levels, and the crew could move to a better shielded part of the station if necessary, according to Steenburgh.

Increased radiation also could threaten some of NASA’s science satellites. Extremely sensitive instruments will be turned off, if necessary, to avoid damage, said Antti Pulkkinen, director of the space agency’s heliophysics science division.

Several sun-focused spacecraft are monitoring all the action.

“This is exactly the kinds of things we want to observe,” Pulkkinen said.

The Pioneer Press contributed to this report.

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A new state flag rose over the Minnesota Capitol at dawn Saturday, May 11, marking its official adoption after a decades-long push to change the state’s emblems.

The new design, inspired by one of more than a thousand public submissions considered by a state panel last year, replaces the state’s old flag, which has existed in some form for more than 130 years.

It’s considerably simpler than the now-retired state flag, which featured the state’s old seal on a blue background and long attracted criticism for its resemblance to other state flags — and what some said was its glorification of the displacement of Native Americans by European settlers.

The new flag has an eight-pointed white star in a dark blue abstract shape of Minnesota on the left and a field of light blue on the right, evoking imagery of the state’s waters, as well as the state motto: L’Étoile du Nord, French for “Star of the North.” It was inspired by a submission from 24-year-old Luverne resident Andrew Prekke.

A state panel chose the flag last year, but the adoption date, Saturday, May 11, coincides with Statehood Day — this year marking 166 years since Minnesota became the 166th U.S. State.

Old state flags that came down from above the Capitol are headed to the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation.

Why the change?

Minnesota’s old flag resembles that of more than 20 states and has been described by critics as a “state seal on a bed sheet.” Flag scholars and enthusiasts, sometimes known as vexillologists, say the design is overly complicated.

Other critics say the seal is offensive to the state’s Dakota and Ojibwe tribes because it depicts a Native American riding off into the sunset while a white settler plows his field with his rifle leaning on a nearby stump.

The imagery is based on a poem by the Mary Eastman, the wife of seal designer Seth Eastman, that says “the white man claims” the lands that are now Minnesota.

The State Emblems Redesign Commission also changed Minnesota’s seal, which the state adopted Saturday in addition to the flag.

The new design centers around a loon, Minnesota’s state bird and includes the Dakota language phrase “Mni Sota Makoce,” meaning “Land Where the Waters Reflect the Clouds,” the origin of Minnesota’s name.

Conservative opposition

The new design hasn’t been without its critics, and Minnesota Republicans have attempted to drive the new flag as a political issue. In January the state Republican Party launched a website with a petition to reject the new flag, saying it erases state history.

Those efforts haven’t changed anything. Democratic-Farmer-Labor legislators, who control the Senate and House, have not let any flag-challenging legislation move forward.

That didn’t stop House Republicans from making a largely symbolic last-ditch effort Thursday to put the question of new symbols to voters.

Rep. Bjorn Olson, R-Fairmont, attempted to introduce a measure on the House floor that would put the symbols up to a constitutional referendum — something Secretary of State Steve Simon, a DFLer, said he doubts would hold up even if the Senate and House approved such a measure. The measure failed on party lines.

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CROSSLAKE, Minn. — Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle has become the first major U.S. fishing tackle manufacturer to pledge to get the lead out of its products within three years, signing an agreement with the National Loon Center to become lead-free and loon-friendly.

A Lindy nontoxic jig made of tungsten in an undated courtesy photo, circa May 2024. The company announced it is releasing a new line of lead-free jigs after agreeing to remove lead from its tackle by 2027. (Courtesy of Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle)

As the first tackle company to sign the Loon Center’s “Loons & Lakes Legacy Pledge,” Lindy is launching a new line of products under the name “Lindy-Lead Free,” providing four styles of lead-free fishing jigs available in 144 variations.

Under the pledge, Lindy commits to making its entire product line lead-free and loon-friendly by 2027.

Lindy officials say they have developed a unique blend of nontoxic materials, including bismuth, that will look, feel and fish like lead. The development “is a true game changer in the fishing tackle industry,” said Ron Kiffmeyer, Lindy sales manager. “We have made the commitment to go 100% lead-free because we can, and it is the right thing to do, period.”

Jon Mobeck, executive director of the Crosslake, Minn.-based National Loon Center, praised Lindy for leading the way for the tackle industry and said he hopes more companies follow.

“We are determined to get the word out that fishing lead-free is possible, affordable and the absolute right thing to do to protect our state’s precious resources,’’ Mobeck said in announcing the news.

“As another fishing opener approaches, we are thrilled to support Lindy’s commitment to designing lead-free tackle that guides Minnesota’s storied angling tradition toward a more responsible future,” Mobeck said. “Removing lead from our lakes improves our valuable freshwater resource and protects loons from an unnecessary and lethal toxin.”

Lindy, originally founded in 1968 by Brainerd-based national fishing gurus Al and Ron Linder, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Birmingham, Alabama-based Pradco Outdoor Brands and its privately held parent company, EBSCO Industries.

The new tackle was designed for Lindy by Minnesotan Jeff Zernov, a fishing innovator who was inducted into the Minnesota Fishing Museum Hall of Fame in 2004. He’s developed a formula that makes tackle that behaves like lead tackle, with similar sizes, shapes, colors and weights, but is safe for humans and animals. The new jigs will cost only slightly more than lead.

“This is a very big moment for the fishing industry,” Zernov said in a statement. “With this product, there is no need to use lead tackle again. Our goal is to spread the word and get people to change their ways before it is too late.”

While many tackle manufacturers have offered lead-free alternatives to weights, sinkers and jigs for several years, including Minnesota-based companies like Clam and Northland, they have continued to sell far more leaded products. Lead has been the perfect material for fishing weighted tackle for a century because it’s cheap, readily available and easy to mold into many shapes and sizes. Lead alternatives, however, like tungsten, tin and bismuth, tend to be more expensive.

The split-shot fishing sinkers on the right are made of tin and are shinier than the lead sinkers on the left, and they are also non-toxic to loons and other birds. The lead-free sinkers are also slightly larger than the lead sinkers of comparable weight. (Forum News Service)

But lead is also a potent neurotoxin, especially for children and developing fetuses, but also for adults and wildlife. That’s why lead has been banned from paint, gasoline and other consumer products for decades and why governments are spending billions of dollars nationwide to remove lead water pipes from homes.

A tiny piece of lead can kill an adult loon or other bird within days. Loons and swans pick up the lead tackle pieces while looking for pebbles needed for their digestive system. Eagles and other predators pick up lead fragments from the gut piles or bodies of dead, hunter-shot animals they scavenge.

Some Minnesota lawmakers have for decades tried to pass laws to ban small lead fishing tackle, generally under an ounce in weight or inch in diameter, to protect loons. Those efforts have been thwarted, however, by a pushback from Minnesota tackle makers and national fishing tackle trade groups, including the American Sportfishing Association and the National Marine Manufacturers Association, that say any lead ban for even small tackle would cost anglers too much money.

While they agree some loons may be dying from lead tackle, they note that there is little proof that lead tackle is impacting loons at a population-wide level.

Similar efforts to further restrict lead ammunition also have been met with industry pushback. While lead ammunition has been banned for waterfowl hunting for decades due to lead poisoning in birds that eat dead fowl, efforts to require lead bullets for deer hunting or expand the lead shotgun shell ban for upland bird hunting or trap shooting, have been defeated, also due to concerns over price.

Minnesota has a stable population of about 12,000 loons, the official state bird.

Across Minnesota lakes, tons of lead lost each year

Minnesota anglers don’t lose much tackle on any given fishing trip, but collectively, tons of lead sinkers and jigs are ending up on lake bottoms each year. That was the conclusion of a 2006 study by Paul Radomsky, a fisheries biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The study looked at five popular walleye fishing lakes — Rainy, Namakan, Leech, Mille Lacs and Lake of the Woods — using survey interviews to find out how much fishing tackle anglers lost.

On each trip, each angler lost remarkably little tackle, the study found. For example, on average, one lead head jig was lost every 40 hours of fishing. But when multiplied by millions of anglers over millions of hours fished, year after year, the lead is piling up.

During summer 2004, anglers in the five lakes surveyed lost an estimated 215,000 pieces of tackle to snags and broken lines. Of that, about 100,000 pieces were made of lead, totaling more than 1 ton of lead lost in the lakes. And that was just five lakes over one summer.

Over 20 years, using DNR survey data, the study estimates anglers left more than 1 million pieces of lead in Lake Mille Lacs alone. That adds up to more than 9 tons of lead in one lake.

A slow death

Lead dissolves into a bird’s bloodstream quickly. The lead in a 1/8-ounce split-shot sinker is enough to kill a loon, while a fragment of lead bullet can kill an eagle. According to Minnesota Department of Natural Resources biologists, lead at levels as low as 0.02 parts per million are fatal to birds.

A loon or eagle with lead poisoning may fly poorly, have crash landings or stagger onto the ground. Lead-poisoned loons often gasp and tremble and their wings droop as lead moves through the bloodstream. Eventually, the loon stops eating and seeks seclusion, becoming emaciated and often dying within two or three weeks.

It’s believed most poisoned loons are never recovered. But, of the dead loons in the wild that are recovered, lead is the leading cause of death. Research from six New England states found that, of adult dead loons found, 26% died from lead poisoning. Some popular fishing lakes saw lead as the cause of over 50% of loon deaths.

In Michigan, another 15-year study examined 186 dead loons and revealed that lead poisoning was the leading cause of loon deaths. A study conducted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency found that lead caused 12% of dead adult loons found intact.

Find lead-free tackle now

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency offers a searchable list of lead-free tackle options at pca.state.mn.us/air-water-land-climate/where-to-buy-lead-free-tackle.

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Voting takes place May 11-19.

Submit your vote in the form below:

Here’s a look at last year’s reader picks.

And here’s the Twin Cities patio guide assembled by our Eat team last year.

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