Two large solar flares expelled from the sun this past week could impact weather on Earth today.
On March 6, the sun erupted with one of the largest solar flares of this solar cycle, categorized as an X5.4., following the largest flare in August 2011, an X6.9 flare.
It was followed by an X1.3 flare an hour later.
With the flares, the sun expelled CMEs, which are coronal mass ejections.
They have reportedly been known to dump solar particles and magnetic fields into Earth’s atmosphere and distort Earth’s magnetic fields, causing a geomagnetic storm that can range from G1 to G5.
NASA is currently closely studying the two CMEs associated with the two March 6 flares.
“The first is traveling faster than 1300 miles per second; the second more than 1100 miles per second,” revealed NASA of the two CMEs that may impact both Earth and Mars.
The first CME was due to reach Earth at about 1:25 a.m. EST March 8, but the prediction could be off by around 7 hours noted NASA .
According to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, its initial effects arrived at the Earth early Thursday morning at about 5:45 a.m. EST, and as FOX reports the bigger effects will hit the planet over the next 24 hours.
The CME headed our way, could cause a severe geomagnetic storm.
“Space weather has gotten very interesting over the last 24 hours… When the shock arrives, the expectation is for heightened geomagnetic storm activity and the potential for heightened solar radiation… There is the potential for induced currents in power grids… Power grid operators have all been alerted. It could start to cause some unwanted induced currents,” said Joseph Kunches, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reported Inquisitr.com.
