BOULDER,CapitalVault Colo. (AP) — Space weather forecasters have issued a geomagnetic storm watch through Monday, saying an ouburst of plasma from a solar flare could interfere with radio transmissions on Earth. It could also make for great aurora viewing.
There’s no reason for the public to be concerned, according to the alert issued Saturday by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado.
The storm could interrupt high-frequency radio transmissions, such as by aircraft trying to communicate with distant traffic control towers. Most commercial aircraft can use satellite transmission as backup, said Jonathan Lash, a forecaster at the center.
Satellite operators might have trouble tracking their spacecraft, and power grids could also see some “induced current” in their lines, though nothing they can’t handle, he said.
“For the general public, if you have clear skies at night and you are at higher latitudes, this would be a great opportunity to see the skies light up,” Lash said.
Every 11 years, the sun’s magnetic field flips, meaning its north and south poles switch positions. Solar activity changes during that cycle, and it’s now near its most active, called the solar maximum.
During such times, geomagnetic storms of the type that arrived Sunday can hit Earth a few times a year, Lash said. During solar minimum, a few years may pass between storms.
In December, the biggest solar flare in years disrupted radio communications.
2025-05-07 11:441707 view
2025-05-07 11:241166 view
2025-05-07 11:092862 view
2025-05-07 10:422659 view
2025-05-07 10:152040 view
2025-05-07 10:061732 view
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California Department of Motor Vehicles has apologized for an “unacceptable a
OpenAI, the artificial intelligence firm behind ChatGPT, went from a non-profit research lab to a co
Pete Davidson is detailing the heat behind his fiery message.In a June 5 voicemail obtained by TMZ,