According to the data, the hurricane appeared over the North Pole, extending to a diameter of 1,000 kilometres (621 miles). It reached from 110 kilometres to 860 kilometres in altitude, and consisted of plasma with multiple spiral arms, swirling in an anticlockwise direction at speeds up to 2,100 metres per second (6,900 feet per second).

A rain of charged particles into the ionosphere from the solar wind is what usually produces glowing green aurorae at Earth's higher latitudes but solar conditions at the time were relatively quiet. So the team turned to modelling to determine what caused the plasma ruckus.