Last week saw very little solar activity, but it looks like the Sun is now finally gearing up. Earlier, it was reported that a new sunspot appeared on Earth with the appearance of a sun disk behaving erratically. In just 24 hours after appearing on Earth, the sunspot tripled in size. And now it looks like a solar storm will hit our planet tomorrow, August 3rd. This particular solar storm event is unrelated to the sunspot, which is still developing. High-speed solar winds escaping from the Sun’s atmosphere are responsible for this upcoming storm. Read on to find out how dangerous it can be. It was first reported by SpaceWeather.com, which noted on its website, “NOAA forecasters say there is a chance for small G1 geomagnetic storms on August 3, when a high-speed solar wind stream is expected to graze the magnetic field of Earth. Gaseous material flows from a southern hole in the sun’s atmosphere.” The website has also added an image of the exact zone from where the solar winds were released into space and towards Earth. You can check it here.
Solar storm will hit Earth tomorrow
As the predicted solar storm is a G1 category, which is classified as minor, the storm is not likely to cause us much trouble. However, it will cause an aurora to appear at higher latitudes. Aurora displays are the beautiful curtain-like patterns of light in the sky that occur as a result of refraction of light as sunlight hits the atmosphere at odd angles. At the same time, there is a slight chance of a shortwave radio power outage, which could affect radio operators and some Earth Day navigation systems. Solar storms are divided into five categories ranging from G1 to G5. While a G1 is the smallest type of solar storm that can hit the planet, a G5 is the most severe. A good example of a G5 solar storm is the Carrington event that occurred in 1859, which destroyed telegraph systems and caused power grid failures.
