Solar storm alert! Fast moving solar winds charging towards Earth; Know the danger

Just a couple of days ago, it was revealed that a potentially gigantic sunspot on the farside of the Earth is slowly rotating to face the Earth. Last week, the sunspot exploded and released an extremely huge burst of coronal mass ejection (CME). Now, as it moves towards the Earth, there is a chance that it might explode again. But that is a concern for next week, as today the Earth is already set for a powerful solar storm caused by fast-moving solar winds. Know the damage it can cause. Read on.

The report came from SpaceWeather.com which noted on its website, “NOAA forecasters say there is a chance of G1-class solar storms on Nov. 4th and 5th as Earth continues to pass through a stream of fast-moving solar wind. The gaseous material is flowing from an equatorial hole in the sun’s atmosphere. Yesterday, the same stream sparked spectacular pink auroras inside the Arctic Circle”.

Solar storm to hit the Earth today

While it is not possible to gauge how intense the incoming solar storm can be, it is likely that it will not be a very intense storm. However, it is still capable of causing disruptions to radiowaves and causing a radio blackout. This can also impact GPS systems. As a result, flight timings can be delayed and ship transportation can be affected. If you are planning to travel today or tomorrow, you should check whether you fall into the solar storm prone area or not and whether it has affected your flight schedules.

However, it should be noted that as the Sun is nearing the peak of its solar cycle and solar storms are going to increase both in frequency and intensity. A G5 class solar storm, like the Carrington event, hitting today can cause major destruction around the globe. Such solar disturbances can damage satellites, impact mobile networks and internet connectivity as well as cause power grid failure. Although humans will not be directly impacted by the radiation, due to disruptions to emergency services and power outages at places of high importance, it can still cause a high number of deaths.

The most concerning part is that we still do not have any technology that can reliably predict solar storms before coronal mass ejections have already been dispersed into space. This just gives us a window of 24-48 hours before the storm hits. And with a high number of satellites and tech-reliant processes on Earth, it will be very difficult to circumvent the impact of it.