According to space weather agencies around the world, Earth is about to be hit by solar storms.
We could see a strong storm, as well as several moderate and mild ones, in the days ahead, thanks to a high solar wind speed and several coronal mass ejections.
The British Met Office, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology have all issued advisories for solar storms over the next few days.
It's very little to worry about.
The current stage of the Sun's activity cycle is where this behavior occurs. One moderate storm has already passed and may cause some minor glitch in technology that you will probably not notice.
If you live at or are visiting high latitudes, you can expect to see more of the australis.
Solar storms are a part of our lives. When a new cycle kicks in, it undergoes a cycle of varying activity levels from low to high.
There are cycles in sunspot activity. Sunspot numbers increase towards the activity peak, known as solar maximum, and decrease towards solar minimum, the lowest end of the activity scale.
Sunspots have more powerful and complex magnetic fields than the areas around them. They are not as dense as the surrounding plasma. An eruption of energy known as a coronal mass ejection can occur when the magnetic field lines tangle.
The result of open magnetic fields that allow the solar wind to escape into space is that coronal holes are larger than sun spots. Streams of solar wind are fast.
There are both going on at the moment. The peak of its activity cycle is predicted to occur in July 2025.
It has been pretty rowdy with an eruption of some kind happening almost every day this year.
The majority of those have been small. If the flares are in our direction, they can have an effect on Earth. Our magnetic field and atmosphere can be damaged by the collision of the magnetic fields ejected into space.
There are different classifications for these. A mild storm is classified as G1 and a moderate storm is classified as G2 The Met Office has predicted these.
There is a chance of a strong G3 storm. All the way up to G5 is on the scale.
Power grid fluctuations, migratory animals, and some satellite operations can be affected by mild storms.
Satellites may need course correction and high-frequency radio operations may be disrupted if there is a moderate storm.
Satellite and low-frequency radio navigation may be disrupted if there is a strong storm.
In all three instances, the sky could be seen. The particles from the solar eruption hit the Earth's magnetosphere and accelerated along the magnetic field lines to the poles. There, they rain down into the upper atmosphere, which causes the amazing Auroral glow in the sky.
The lights may appear as low as 50 degrees latitude in a G3 storm.
August 18 and 19 have the highest levels of Kp7 and Kp6 on the 10-point Kp scale. There is a chance of a bright, clearAurora.
The Kaus index is lower in the southern hemisphere.
The most recent M-class eruption of the sunspot is moving away from us and we will be out of the strike zone of any future eruptions.
There will be another set of solar storms soon.
Several X-class flares have been unleashed by the Sun so far this year, which is more active than expected. The most powerful eruptions are the M-class flares.
You can keep up with solar activity by following the SWPC, the Met Office, and SpaceWeatherLive. More about solar flare classifications can be found here.
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