I've seen some UK news saying "There's a #SolarStorm coming! Maybe there will be #aurora!" Now I can 100% guarantee that Brits venturing out tonight in clear skies will see a glow to the North... but it almost certainly won't be aurora! It's mid May after all! So, for much of the country, the glow of twilight is visible all "night" (some parts of the UK actually have no astronomical night until August). So, unless it's a once in a lifetime display, twilight will make aurora-spotting impossible
To my European followers:
It looks like the solar storm might arrive earlier than expected (it already did partially!), which means very good chances tonight for Aurora over Central Europe! https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/alerts-watches-and-warnings
Disruptions to communications devices, etc, aside, "A severe geomagnetic storm includes the potential for aurora to be seen as far south as Alabama and Northern California."
🔗🌞 NOAA Forecasts Severe Solar Storm;
swpc.noaa.gov/news/media-advisory-noaa-forecasts-severe-solar-storm-media-availability-scheduled-friday-may-10
😲 🌞😎 Earth hit by radiation from rare 'double' X-class solar flare, triggering most powerful geomagnetic storm in 6 years
The explosive event is another clear sign that the sun has likely reached the fiery peak of its roughly 11-year cycle of activity, known as solar maximum, meaning Earth could be in the firing line of more of these potentially harmful solar storms in the coming months.
“A number of Americans are dealing with cellular outages on AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Verizon, T-Mobile and other service providers, according to data from Downdetector.
#NOAA said that "normally mitigable" problems with voltage ⚡ control was possible, as well as "frequent and longer periods of #GPS degradation." Geomagnetic storms can potentially impact power 🔋 systems, damage transformers and extend the northern lights to New York and Idaho. It can also potentially require flight ✈️ ground control to issue corrective actions for orientation 🧭. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earth-geomagnetic-storm-what-that-means-what-you-can-expect/
The potential global economic impact of #SpaceWeather events is significant and could incur losses totalling 38.4 billion € 💰 per day. The lack 🔮 of information about space weather can also cause significant damage to satellites and other space systems. A geomagnetic storm in February 📆 2022 interfered with a #Starlink launch, resulting in the company losing 🔥 38 out of 49 #satellites 🛰️ https://spacenews.com/space-weather-requires-our-attention-now-more-than-ever/