Coronal Mass Ejection

“NEW YORK — In the kind of event that fascinates space forecasters but worries some industries, a strong geomagnetic storm was expected to hit Earth on Friday, potentially disrupting everything from cell phones to power.

Space forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a potentially powerful ejection of magnetic material from the Sun could wreak havoc on satellites, pagers, electric grids and possibly airline schedules.

"This is not a super solar storm," said Larry Combs, a space weather forecaster with NOAA's Space Environment Center in Boulder.

So far, the storm has interfered with airline communications and radio communications for teams on Mount Everest, Combs said. But problems were not widespread.

"It is kind of like a snowstorm in June in Colorado," Combs said.

The cause of the storm is one of the largest sunspot clusters scientists have seen in some time. It developed over the past three days and produced an explosion of gas and charged particles into space from the outermost layers of the sun's atmosphere.

It’s that disturbance, known as a coronal mass ejection, that was heading toward Earth at 2 million mph. The usual cycle for such a storm is every 11 years; this one was expected to hit three years ago.

Solar activity is rated in the same way as earthquakes, on a sliding scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most powerful. This storm is expected to rank at a moderate 3.

Much like predicting a hurricane, forecasting the impact of a geomagnetic storm is difficult.

"It could just strike a glancing blow or hit head on," Combs said.

One positive angle to the storm: much of Europe and the northern United States and Canada can expect to see brilliant skies from the northern lights.

A second sunspot cluster not yet visible from Earth could produce more geomagnetic storms in the next two weeks, NOAA said.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report.”

“reformed lurker...

My apologies ...I didn't notice your thread before I submitted mine.

Mea culpa.”

“Thanks for the update.”