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March 18th, 2015, 3:55 AM
#1
Alaska - 2015
Hope this post finds FieryPrincess enjoying the Northern Lights and still having electric power.
(Actually, people in Two-Harbors Minnesota should have gotten a light show, as well
Despite what the Miami Sun says, I doubt anyone in the South will see the lights, unless they are on a mountain peak.)
But people all across Alaska and Canada are vulnerable to power blackouts.
Hope those on the Ididerod aren't completely relying on GPS.
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1357765
MIAMI: A pair of solar eruptions over the weekend have unleashed a severe geomagnetic storm that could disrupt power and communications Tuesday on Earth, US officials said.
The storm could grow into a G4 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scale of one to five, with five being the worst.
"Possible widespread voltage control problems and some protective systems may mistakenly trip out key assets from the power grid," NOAA said in a space weather alert describing the storm.
High frequency radio may be sporadic or blacked out for hours, and satellite navigation systems may be "degraded or inoperable for hours," the federal agency added.
US residents as far south as Alabama and northern California could be able to see the resulting aurora — known as the Northern Lights — from the magnetic storm.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...-tomorrow.html
The first ‘significant’ solar flare of the year has been spotted by a Nasa observatory.
The flare peaked at 12.22pm EDT (4.22pm GMT) yesterday and was watched by the orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
This flare was the most powerful of the year so far, and is predicted to cause a geomagnetic storm on Earth tomorrow following blackouts today.
Last edited by Mestral; March 18th, 2015 at 3:57 AM.
I don't mind being called far right.
I have been right so far.
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March 18th, 2015, 8:29 AM
#2
It would seem that those who predict doom and gloom from our sun are about as accurate as our weather prognosticators. There have been NO reports of power outages or GPS disruptions.
"A boy cannot become a girl and a man cannot become a woman, not even if he shuts his eyes and wishes really hard."
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March 18th, 2015, 8:44 AM
#3
Systems may be a bit more robust than in the past, since this has been in the [technical] news for the past 35 years.
It ain't over though. In '89, the blackout in Quebec occurred almost 24 hours after the first of the Northern Lights.
The echoes of this storm will be felt for a couple days, and in various places, as the Earth and Sun continue rotation.
I don't mind being called far right.
I have been right so far.
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March 18th, 2015, 9:57 AM
#4
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March 18th, 2015, 5:33 PM
#5
Reports of effects have been sporadic.
FieryPrincess has been off line since 3:19pm (that would be morning for her) yesterday.
It may all be coincidence at this point.
http://www.wbrz.com/news/a-geomagnet...our-gps-today/
"No, Siri. I'm not in Port Allen right now. I'm in Baton Rouge." That's what I told my phone today, but I may not have been alone. A few people may have talked to their phones today regarding their GPS location. Siri may have thought I was in Port Allen today because her data source, GPS satellites, are enjoying the St. Patrick's Day festivities in the thermosphere a little too much. No, the thermosphere isn't some hot new pub downtown, but the second-most outer layer of Earth's atmosphere where many orbiting satellites can be found. The real reason a few radio and GPS signals could act a little squirrelly today is in response to a strong solar storm currently affecting the planet.
We are observing a few changes in our daily lives today as a result of the strong geomagnetic storm affecting the Earth. One symptom of the storm, a positive one, is that the Aurora Borealis, or "Northern Lights" are supercharged and our neighbors to the north as far south as Tennessee may be seeing green in their sky this St. Patrick's Day. We're just too far south to enjoy them here in Louisiana. A negative observation is that your GPS may have been acting a little funky today. While it knows your general whereabouts, it may not have been able to give you a precise location. For example, as I'm sitting at the WBRZ Studios writing this article, I took a snapshot of my phones GPS service. It thinks I'm across the river, and it still isn't 100% certain about that! At least I'm sitting in the blue "you-could-be-anywhere-in-here" circle, but that's as precise as it would get. It wouldn't improve. Luckily, we won't see many more disruptions of our daily lives other than this and luckily no damage has been reported thus far as a result of the storm.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center as ranked this geomagnetic solar storm as a "G4," or "severe" on the 1-to-5 Geomagnetic Storm Space Weather scale. This caught forecasters off guard because they were expecting only a "G1" on the scale as well as a later arrival. Geomagnetic storms are sometimes strong enough to endanger astronauts or stress power grids here on Earth. While this storm is forecast to continue for a few more hours, it isn't expected to put anyone in danger.
I don't mind being called far right.
I have been right so far.
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March 18th, 2015, 7:55 PM
#6
I saw a double rainbow while driving to Georgetown this evening. Probably caused by that solar flare.
"A boy cannot become a girl and a man cannot become a woman, not even if he shuts his eyes and wishes really hard."
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March 19th, 2015, 7:11 AM
#7
I don't mind being called far right.
I have been right so far.
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March 19th, 2015, 7:46 AM
#8
Thus far, only anecdotal reports of any side effects from the solar flare,
with the exception of "long haul" radio networks and some other specialized
radio and radar systems (which are always disrupted by solar flares).
Fiery Princess has been on the board, but hasn't discovered this thread,
so we can rest assured she is all right.
I don't mind being called far right.
I have been right so far.
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March 22nd, 2015, 12:00 PM
#9
Oh dear Lord!
I was in Texas at a book release party for the book I recommended elsewhere on the site... my husband got some amazing shots of the lights and as far as I know we didn't even flicker the power here.
"My days of not taking you seriously have come to a middle."
~ Captain Malcolm Reynolds
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March 22nd, 2015, 12:59 PM
#10
Yeah, I know about the book release, although I had the wrong dates.
Glad to know the grid in Alaska isn't too vulnerable. We will probably get a couple more
of these in the next year or so. Texas grid is about the safest one in the US since it is smaller
and further south than either the eastern or western grid.
I don't mind being called far right.
I have been right so far.