- The sun unleashed two solar flares over the weekend that will hit our planet
- The first made impact Monday afternoon over the Pacific Ocean
A radio blackout was detected over the Pacific Ocean Monday afternoon after an expected solar storm slammed into Earth. Data showed the incident occurred around 4:20pm ET in the waters off the coast of the western US and South America – but it lasted for a just few seconds.
The poles were also impacted by the powerful stream of energized particles, with the outage lasting for about seven hours. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) said there was a 60 percent chance the storm would disrupt the power grid.
Another storm is set to impact Earth tomorrow, which could also impact radios, aviation communication and degrade satellite operations. But the events are expected to create stunning auroras as far south as northern Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
Physicist Tamitha Skov told DailyMail.com: ‘As for radio blackouts, yes the risk is increasing now. ‘We have already had two small M-class flares, resulting in short-lived R1-level radio blackouts today, but they may soon become longer and larger.
‘NOAA/SWPC has the risk for an R1-R2-level radio blackout at 60 percent over the next couple of days.’ M-class flares are medium-sized; they generally cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions. The two active sunspots, 3559 and 3555, released coronal mass ejections (CMEs) just one day apart over the weekend – the first exploded on Saturday.
CMEs can eject billions of tons of corona material from the sun’s surface. The material consists of plasma and magnetic fields. ‘This storm will be followed by two, possibly three others that will give us several glancing blows through January 25,’ said Skov, who hosts a space weather forecast on YouTube.
‘We have a series of solar storms hitting starting now (the first one just hit a few hours ago, but it is ramping up slowly). ‘However, we can all rest easy, as these storms will not be that powerful to affect critical infrastructure.’
NOAA uses a five-level system called the S-scale, to indicate the severity of a solar radiation storm. At the start of Monday, there was only a 10 percent chance of a minor solar radiation storm, but the likelihood increased to 55 percent following the CME striking Earth.
SWPC shared that ‘the general public does not need to be concerned,’ but the storm will bring northern lights to several US states this week. ‘Solar storms are what cause the gorgeous aurora we see on Earth’s nightside. For the aurora lovers in your community, this week is a real treat,’ said Skov.
SWPC issued an official warning on its website about a geomagnetic storm striking Earth, which is a temporary disturbance in Earth’s magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave.
The geomagnetic storm is currently a G2 event, which is deemed moderate on SWPC’s scale, and is in effect until Tuesday. During G2 storms, voltage corrections may be necessary and false alarms could trigger some devices. Satellites and spacecraft in orbit may experience drag that could interfere with operations.