Three coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that erupted from the sun in recent days are expected to merge into a powerful "cannibal CME" and smash into the Earth's atmosphere on Wednesday, triggering intense geomagnetic activity that could make the northern lights visible across much of the United States.
"As many as three CMEs are approaching Earth, including today's fast-moving X5-class CME from sunspot 4274," SpaceWeatherNews wrote in a report on its website.
The website that tracks solar flares continued, "There is a chance that the three CMEs will merge into a single 'Cannibal CME,' a potent type of storm cloud that could cause a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm when it arrives on Nov. 12."
SpaceWeatherNews said if the geomagnetic storm develops, northern lights would descend to mid-latitudes and become visible in more than half of the Lower 48.
Now this is very alarming. The report continued:
A 'GROUND LEVEL EVENT' IS UNDERWAY: Today's X5-class solar flare from sunspot 4274 hurled a fuisillade of energetic protons toward Earth. Some of the particles are so powerful, they are penetrating the atmosphere all the way to the ground. "This is a very significant event," says Professor Clive Dyer of the Surrey Space Centre. "Neutron monitors around the world are detecting it."
This is called a Ground Level Event (GLE). GLEs of this magnitude are rare; they happen only once or twice every solar cycle. "This one is comparable to the GLE of Dec. 13, 2006," says Dyer. That makes it a ~20-year event.
For comparison, during the 2006 GLE, passengers on high-latitude air flights experienced a peak dose rate of 25-30 microSieverts per hour at cruising altitude. This translated to an estimated 20% increase in the total effective radiation dose. Something similar may be happening now.
"This is a very significant event and analysis will help us prepare for larger events such as a repeat of Feb. 23 1956, which is soon to have its 70th anniversary and gave a thousandfold increase in radiation at 40000 feet," says Dyer.
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center ranks the incoming solar event a 4 out of 5 on NOAA's space weather scale, meaning it's classified as "Severe."
SWPC warned, "Detrimental impacts to some of our critical infrastructure technology are possible, but mitigation is possible."
A Carrington-class storm would be absolutely catastrophic for power grids and the AI infrastructure being installed at lightning pace. And there are others.
... Which US power grid is most at risk? Find out here.
Also, Solar Cycle 25 has peaked (more here).
Triple Solar Storm Alert - X5 Solar Flare/BIG CME
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