(NewsNation) — We are in the middle of one of the most powerful solar storms to strike Earth in more than 20 years. Here’s a quick explanation of what’s happening.
What is it?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center put it this way: “A geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere that occurs when there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding Earth.”
The U.S. Geological Survey puts it a bit simpler: “A magnetic storm is a period of rapid magnetic field variation. The Sun sometimes emits a strong surge of solar wind called a coronal mass ejection. This gust of solar wind disturbs the outer part of the Earth’s magnetic field.”
How long will it last, and how strong will it be?
The first of several “coronal mass ejections” came early Friday morning, and will continue for a few days.
As with hurricanes and tornadoes, scientists have developed a scale for geomagnetic storms, ranging from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme). The storms this weekend were predicted to range from G2 to G4, but NOAA labeled one Friday storm a G5.
Can I see it?
Also known as the northern lights, the Aurora Borealis is usually visible only in the far northern latitudes. But this storm could bring a spectacular light show to the sky as far south as northern California and Alabama.
People in the U.K. and Europe reported seeing colorful lights in the sky Friday night. In North America, the best chance to see some color in the sky will be from late Saturday night into early Sunday morning.
What will it affect us?
High frequency radio signals are vulnerable to outages. That includes some military, aviation and maritime signals. Ham radios, shortwave stations and citizen’s band radios could also experience outages.
GPS navigation could be degraded for days, according to NOAA.
An “extreme” geomagnetic storm like this one could disrupt the voltage controls on parts of the power grid, damage transformers and perhaps cause blackouts.
What about my cellphone?
Commercial wireless networks are not on the high frequency bands, and most navigation systems in mobile phones use a combination of GPS signals and tower-based tracking, so shoppers can still find their way to Home Depot.
Cellphone systems run on electricity, so if the underlying power system is OK, that new TikTok post will upload just fine.
How bad has it been?
There are all kinds of stories about the Great Halloween Solar Storms of 2003. “With little warning, three massive and very intense sunspot groups emerged on the sun’s surface in late October, with the largest measuring over 13 times the size of Earth,” NOAA’s website recalls.
The storms disrupted satellite TV and radio, damaged a Japanese satellite beyond repair, messed up communications on airliners flying over the North Pole, blacked out scientific stations in Antarctica for five days, destroyed an experiment aboard the Mars Odyssey orbiter and forced the crew of the International Space Station to take cover from high radiation levels.
Are earthquakes possible during a geomagnetic storm?
The USGS says, despite decades of research, there’s no convincing evidence that these storms happen before earthquakes. It’s been scientists’ wishful thinking for a long time to link the two phenomena as a way to possibly predict earthquakes.