Solar Weather

 Watch out - there's a solar storm on the way!

Specifically, there's a CME which will strike Earth a glancing blow some time on Thursday night, triggering a G 1 geomagnetic storm. It might cause fluctuations in the power grid or a brief interruption in satellite communications.

(No, it won't cause any huge problems).

Solar weather is something that a high tech civilization has to worry about. NOAA has various categories. G 1 is the lowest of geomagnetic storm. The highest, G 5, might cause blackouts, damage power grid components, degrade satellite navigation for a few days and block high frequency radio. It might also damage satellites or cause them to temporarily go out of communication. We don't want a G 5...although we've been designing systems to take it for years.

Oh, and geomagnetic storms can confuse animals that use the magnetic field for navigation.

The upside is that we might see auroras as far south as Maine!

(And yes, this is all normal. We're coming out of a solar minimum, so we haven't had one in a while, but it's just, ya know. Weather)