Severe solar storm could stress power grids even more as US deals with major back-to-back hurricanes

NOAA has notified operators of powerfulness plants and orbiting spacecraft to instrumentality precautions. It besides alerted the Federal Emergency Management Agency astir imaginable powerfulness disruptions, arsenic the enactment copes with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene and gears up for Hurricane Milton barreling crossed the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.

Forecasters bash not expect the latest star tempest to surpass the 1 that slammed Earth successful May, the strongest successful much than 2 decades. But they won’t cognize for definite until it’s conscionable 1 cardinal miles (1.6 cardinal kilometers) away, wherever spacecraft tin measurement it.

Florida is acold capable southbound to debar immoderate powerfulness disruptions from the star surge unless it gets a batch bigger, said idiosyncratic Rob Steenburgh of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

“That adds a small spot much to the comfortableness level,” Steenburgh said. “Why we’re present is to fto them cognize truthful that they tin prepare.”

Experts are much acrophobic astir imaginable effects to the powerfulness grids successful areas slammed by Hurricane Helene 2 weeks ago, said NOAA abstraction upwind forecaster Shawn Dahl.

The tempest besides whitethorn trigger bluish lights arsenic acold southbound successful the US arsenic the little Midwest and Northern California, though nonstop locations and times are uncertain, according to NOAA. Skygazers are reminded to constituent their smartphones upward for photos; the devices often tin seizure auroras that quality eyes cannot.

May’s star tempest produced dazzling auroras crossed the Northern Hemisphere and resulted successful nary large disruptions.
The prima is adjacent the highest of its existent 11-year cycle, sparking each the caller star activity.