Space weather physicist Dr. Tamitha Skov made the prediction this morning that a solar storm will soon hit Earth. Data from both NASA and the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that the astronomical phenomena will be impacting the planet over the next two weeks.
The NOAA’s three-day outlook predicts that there is an 80 percent chance of a major storm on Monday, March 14. Their current predictions include a 20 percent that the storm will impact the UK. Aurora, a beautiful light show in the sky seen in high latitude areas, is expected to be seen further towards the equator than normal during the storm.
There are also expected to be issued for amateur radio and GPS systems, particularly near dawn and dusk. Dr. Skov tweeted yesterday: “Direct Hit! NOAA & NASA prediction models show solar storm to hit Earth between 12:00 & 21:00 UTC March 13. “Impact should be strong! Expect aurora deep into mid-latitudes, amateur radio & GPS reception issues, especially near dawn/dusk, & on Earth’s nightside!”
She added this morning: “Solarstorm & #Aurora 5-day Outlook: Busy week with a triple threat! A big solar storm is coming sandwiched between a glancing blow from a previous solar storm & some fast solar wind.” A relatively weak C-class solar flare blasted from the earth-facing side of the Sun on Thursday last week.
While Dr. Tony Phillips of spaceweather.com stated that these flares are usually unremarkable, this one lasted for nearly 12 hours. Scott Sutherland wrote of the solar flare for theweathernetwork.com: “As this long-duration flare was blasting out energy into space, it was accompanied by the eruption of a cloud of charged solar particles, known as solar plasma cloud, a solar storm, or a coronal mass ejection (CME).”
