While we were sitting in the midst of an all day rain fall, things were heating up in outer space yesterday.
Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say an “extreme” solar flare was detected, and geomagnetic storms remain in the forecast.
The federal agency said the flare, near the center of the sun, happened at 1:45 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday.
“Impacts to [high frequency] radio communications on the daylight side of Earth lasted for a little more than an hour. … Initial information suggests that [coronal mass ejection] is likely associated with this event, however, further analysis is underway at this time.”
Tom Berger of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, told the Associated Press, “There’s been a giant magnetic explosion on the sun… spewing plasma out from the sun, sending waves of energized and magnetized particles through space.”
The energy from these flares don’t harm people directly, but it can create major complications with power infrastructure, from satellites and radio waves to energized power lines.
The scientific community was been raising questions since 2012 that a solar flare of significant magnitude could cause disruption in electrical power grids around the globe. Should our government take precautionary steps to prevent such outages? I believe so, especially since we as citizens know what an inconvenience it can be when experiencing slight power outages. Could you survive if it was a week long outage?
