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You know Your Survival Guy has been preparing you for the prospect of a solar storm this year. Scientists have been working to create a warning system for the powerful phenomenon that can disable electronics and satellites. Now, a powerful solar storm could hit Earth today. Alex Hammer reports for the Daily Mail:
A rare and powerful solar storm may occur in outer space today which could wreak havoc on earth, officials have warned – the first in nearly 20 years if it happens.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued the Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch late Thursday – the first such alert aired since 2005 when Earth was hit with the highest dose of radiation in a half-century.
This time around, the ‘unusual event’ could disrupt electronic devices like GPS and parts of power grids, NOAA said – while citing how it may also drape a huge portion of the country in a spectacular circle of light (an ‘aurora’).
It follows a series of solar flares – large explosions from the sun – that began Wednesday during which several large expulsions of plasma from the sun were spotted – paving the way for Thursday’s alert.
In it, officials explained how the expulsions of matter and magnetic field from the celestial body’s atmosphere could cause problems for millions of earthlings as soon as noon ET Friday.
‘NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) – a division of the National Weather Service – is monitoring the sun following a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that began on May 8,’ the emergency alert read.
‘Space weather forecasters have issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch for the evening of Friday.
‘Additional solar eruptions could cause geomagnetic storm conditions to persist through the weekend,’ it went on, before describing the abnormal activity that tipped space specialists off.
‘A large sunspot cluster has produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday at 5:00 am ET,’ it read.
‘At least five flares were associated with CMEs that appear to be Earth-directed. SWPC forecasters will monitor NOAA and NASA’s space assets for the onset of a geomagnetic storm.’
The agency went on to define CMEs – explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona.
They cause geomagnetic storms when they are directed at Earth, the experts warned – with this being the case as of early Friday.
A solar or geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere – the area around Earth controlled by the planet’s magnetic field.
As mentioned in the alert, it is caused by CMEs – with Friday storm rated ‘G4’ (on a scale of one to five), making it a ‘severe’ storm.’
‘Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface,’ the statement went on, stating how the storm could ‘potentially [disrupt] communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations.’
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Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.
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