Earth could witness the worst solar storm in 165 years, as five streams of plasma released by the sun this week will crash into our atmosphere tonight.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) revealed Friday that the worst-case scenario would be what happened during the Carrington event of 1859, which burned down telegraph stations and cut off communications around the world.
In our modern society, a geomagnetic storm (a major disturbance of the Earth’s magnetosphere) would cause widespread power outages, blackouts, and damage to critical infrastructure.
Scientists have also predicted that three of the five streams, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), could combine to create a powerful “cannibal CME.”
Data on what awaits our planet will likely be captured around 8 p.m. ET, when the plasma blasts racing through space will be a million miles from our planet, and NOAA plans to issue alerts immediately.
This is a developing story… More updates to come.
At least five plasma streams are headed toward Earth, which officials say could develop into the worst geomagnetic superstorm in history when they impact Friday night.
‘We anticipate that we will receive one shock after another. We’re really trying hard,” said Clinton Wallace, director of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), during Friday’s news conference.
While officials predict an event one step below Carrington, which was a level 5 (G5) geomagnetic storm, they do not rule out that we could reach an event at the lower end of the same measurement that ranges between G1 and G5.
The cannibal CME is predicted to cause G3 storms, while the other two could reach G4.
“We’re a little worried because we haven’t seen this in a long time, [which is why] We thought it deserved special attention,’ Dahl said.
“We have discussed this with FEMA because they need to know, not because we are expecting a catastrophic collapse.”
NOAA issued a severe geomagnetic storm warning (G4) late Thursday, noting that a large sunspot group had produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday at 5 a.m. ET.
Earth could witness the worst solar storm in 165 years, as five streams of plasma released by the sun this week will crash into our atmosphere tonight. NASA released a photograph showing a solar flare released by the sun on May 9.
NOAA issued a severe geomagnetic storm warning (G4) late Thursday, noting that a large sunspot group had produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday at 5 a.m. ET.
Sunspots are cooler parts of the sun’s surface caused by massive changes in our star’s magnetic field. Often larger than planets, sunspots appear dark on the sun’s surface because they are cooler than other parts, although they are still very hot, about 6,500°F.
“This is an unusual and potentially historic event,” Wallace said.