Alert! Dangerous Geomagnetic storm today; It will impact Earth and humanity this way

Our Sun is in the middle of its 11-year solar cycle and this was led to an increase in solar activity and solar output. Earth has faced numerous solar flares these past few months and more are expected as the Sun moves ahead in its cycle. Strong Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) have been observed being emitted from the Sun in the past couple of days. Now, a geomagnetic storm warning has been issued for today as these frighteningly powerful CMEs will slam against the Earth's magnetosphere today.

According to spaceweather.com, “OAA forecasters say there is a chance of G2-class geomagnetic storms on Oct. 4th when multiple CMEs might sideswipe Earth's magnetic field.” These CMEs have erupted from the Sunspot AR3110 which unleashed strong solar flares during the weekend including M5.9, M8.7 and X1 rated flares.

Solar storms occur due to a coronal mass ejection (CME) that is set off on the surface of the Sun. This ejection sends solar flares hurtling towards Earth. As per the K-index, which measures the magnetic field around the Earth, solar storms are divided into 5 classes from G-1 to G-5. The G-1 is the lowest impact solar G5 is given to the most severe solar storms.

As the particles erupted during the solar storm reach Earth, they interact with Earth’s magnetic field and spark Geomagnetic storms. Although dangerous, Geomagnetic storms can also bring about shifting curtains of light in greens, blues and pinks which light up the night sky in the Northern and Southern poles. They are called Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis in the North Pole and Southern Lights or Aurora Australis in the South Pole.

How solar flares affect our tech

Fortunately, scientists can predict solar flares before they happen, and if they occur, it still takes time for them to reach our planet. This means we can get enough time to secure our tech before the solar flare can reach us. The part that really affects tech seriously is referred to as an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse). It contains a bunch of charged particles and when they hit something conductive, they impart that charge on that conductive object, creating current in a part of a circuit that overloads a powered line. This can fry components and even melt wires when they become overloaded.