A severe solar storm this weekend is threatening to trigger blackouts and disrupt navigation systems around the world, but it also promises a dazzling display of the northern lights that could be seen across Europe and as far south as Alabama in the U.S.

This is the first time since January 2005 the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a G4 geomagnetic storm watch — the second-highest on a five-step scale — as multiple waves of solar energy bear down on the planet. Five eruptions of material from the sun’s atmosphere are forecast to arrive starting late on Friday and persist through Sunday.