I was just reading this Gizmodo article, and it seems there is the possibility it could disrupt some forms of communications?
According to the article, “CME” means “coronal mass ejection”.
No more concerned than I would be about a typical thunderstorm.
Yes, I meant solar flares
Thank god, I thought there was going to be mandatory Continuing Medical Education all weekend.
“Now, just bend over and cough for the next 18 hours, please.”
All I know is that my internet is via satellite, and it’s been cutting in and out for a few hours now.
Hmmppff!!!
Those are lyrics from a Yes tune; I’m not sure which one but the phrase ends with “touching,” for some reason.
On the positive side, if we experience anything like the 1859 Carrington Event we could operate our telegraphs for up to two hours without connecting to any power source. Imagine the convenience!
Or fire will shoot out of the receptacles in your house. Eeek!
Well for once, I - the Hawai’i dweller - get to envy those of you who reside in less paradisiacal places. Although the Carrington Event apparently brought auroras all the way to Hawai’i, that doesn’t seem to be the prediction here.
Enjoy the light show, you lucky devils!
Well, yes, that would be sort of expected, unfortunately for you…
For the average person this is unlikely to be a big deal. Maybe a chance to see the Northern Lights unusually far south.
For anything satellite based it’s a problem. Also for some types of radio communications and for utility companies that might have to worry about effects on the grid. If industry does a good job of mitigating the potential problems the rest of us won’t notice much (other than, say, satellite anything or broadcast TV/radio being a bit glitchy for a couple days.).
So - is GPS likely to stop working, or stop being correct enough to safely rely upon?
How will we know how close our Amazon delivery isn’t?
The worst part of the Carrington event was the loss of GPS. Trains couldn’t find their way for hours.
Standard hours or daylight savings hours?
In all seriousness, CMEs can cause damage… if they’re unexpected. If they are expected, then anyone who operates any sort of large electronic network can take steps to protect it (mostly, detaching some pieces from each other, which decreases efficiency a bit, but leaves things functioning).
If you know the CME is coming and take appropriate measures, then it might interfere with radio communications (including satellite communications) while it’s actually happening, but things will be fine again once it’s passed.
This technology is probably something most of us aren’t aware of [having gotten our knowledge of farming either from when we were young or from movies/TV].