Frank Bergman
A powerful X-class solar flare has just erupted from the Sun, prompting global blackout warnings and raising concerns about disruptions to communications, satellites, and electrical systems as it races toward Earth.
The eruption originated from Active Region 4341, an exceptionally volatile area on the Sun capable of producing the most extreme solar events.
The flare was classified as an X1.9 / 3B X-ray flare, placing it among the strongest types of solar explosions scientists observe.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), the flare has already caused immediate radio blackouts across large portions of the United States, Central America, and much of South America.
Forecasters warn that the event is expected to trigger a SEVERE (G4) geomagnetic storm late tonight into early tomorrow.
Immediate Radio Blackouts Confirmed
The solar blast produced an R3-level radio blackout, considered “strong” on a five-point scale.
At this level, high-frequency (HF) radio communications and navigation systems can experience significant degradation or complete signal loss on the sunlit side of the Earth.
An R5 event, the most extreme level, would result in total radio blackouts lasting hours and could severely disrupt aviation and maritime navigation.
While this event has not reached that threshold, its scale is still significant and rare.
“Flares of this magnitude are not frequent,” the SWPC has previously stated when addressing similar X-class events.
What Solar Flares Can Do
Solar flares are massive explosions on the Sun that release energy, light, and high-speed particles into space.
They are often associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), huge expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun’s outer atmosphere.
Flares are ranked by strength:
- A, B, C: weak to minor
- M: moderate, capable of limited disruptions
- X: extreme, with the potential for widespread impacts
Each letter represents a tenfold increase in energy.
An X-class flare is ten times stronger than an M-class and 100 times stronger than a C-class flare.
According to NASA, X-class flares can exceed the scale entirely—the strongest ever recorded in 2003 overloaded sensors at an estimated X28.
Geomagnetic Storm Incoming
While radio disruptions occur almost immediately, the most dangerous effects often come later when CMEs slam into Earth’s magnetic field.
These geomagnetic storms are rated from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme).
The current forecast indicates a G4 storm, capable of:
- Disrupting power grid voltage regulation
- Triggering false alarms on protection systems
- Causing intermittent GPS and satellite navigation failures
- Interfering with satellite and spacecraft operations
Forecasters also expect the storm to produce intense auroras, potentially visible much farther south than usual.
The planetary Kp index, which measures geomagnetic activity, is expected to reach 8.0, signaling a major disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field.
Not a Public Safety Threat, for Now
Despite the dramatic effects, the SWPC says the solar flare does not pose a direct threat to human health.
“While impressive, this event still poses no significant threat to the general public,” the agency said.
However, officials caution that stronger geomagnetic interactions could still amplify impacts on infrastructure, especially if the CME’s magnetic orientation interacts aggressively with Earth’s magnetosphere.
A Reminder of What’s Possible
Experts often point to the 1859 Carrington Event as a worst-case scenario.
That historic solar storm caused global telegraph failures, electric shocks to operators, and auroras visible as far south as Hawaii and Mexico.
A 2013 study by Lloyd’s of London estimated that a modern Carrington-level event could cause more than $2.6 trillion in damages in the United States alone, roughly 15 percent of annual GDP.
Space Weather Is Being Watched Closely
The Space Weather Prediction Center, based in Boulder, Colorado, monitors solar activity 24/7, year-round, using data from satellites such as DSCOVR and ACE to track incoming solar wind and magnetic disturbances.
Forecasters watch for:
- Increases in solar wind speed and temperature
- Drops in particle density
- Strengthening of the interplanetary magnetic field
While tonight’s solar storm may deliver spectacular auroras, it also serves as a stark reminder: space weather can have real, disruptive consequences for modern civilization, from power grids to GPS to global communications.
All eyes are now on Earth’s magnetosphere as the storm approaches.
One of our YSB commentators on HYS has been wowed & rated this in the wee hours. early this morning.
https://ysb.co.nz/have-your-say-637/#comment-466024
it was farking brilliant S1, got some awsome photos with the kids aswell.
i sat out there until 2am watching the show.
the purples slowly disappeared as the night went on but it rose higher in the sky.
Which kid is that?
“While impressive, this event still poses no significant threat to the general public,” the agency said.
More fear porn. Enjoy the auroras if lucky to see it.
It poses no threat because anything inside LEO (Leo Earth Orbit) is protected by the Van Allen Belts, the Ionosphere, and the high speed electron force field encompassing the earth which NASA “discovered” a decade ago. A force field so strong that it prevents entry of most things.
And of course NASA are proud to tell you that outside LEO radiation intensity is up to 10,000/20,000 the intensity of a normal X-Ray. A normal X-Ray of less than second or so, but if you are in space for 3 days your will be exposed for 259200 seconds. So up to 5 billion times the radiation dose.
And NASA also point out it is ionising cosmic radiation which includes gamma radiation that goes straight metals and bodies, and is deadly to humans, and the film in your camera will be all over exposed minutes into the flight.
As NASA admitted on the James May science show, to go to Mars requires leaving LEO, which they have never done, and even if the y had, everything would have required 18″ of leading lining. When Aldrin said the walls of the Luna module were as thin as a coke can, he was telling us in his own way, that it was all theater.
Anyway Artemis II, in the Orion spacecraft, is the first manned mission outside LEO, going to moon and circling the moon, will the all new alloys that have taken 50-60 years to develop them. Due to start from Feb 6th. With a diverse crew.
Next step is the development of a time machine, with the help of Marty McFly and Doc Emmet Brown, to send that technology back to 1960s, so that Apollo moon mission can get to the moon without turning the Apollo astronauts into crispy chicken the moment they leave LEO.
Fortunately we were protected by the covering monsoon up this way.
Yes, that monsoonal rains are a dead short on the electrically charged auroa.
Though the charging of the water particles gets interesting with certain clouds & the resultant lightening discharges.
Warning! Today’s space weather will be tomorrow’s “Space Climate Change” complete with dire UN issued predictions, new taxes & poorly educated, hysterical kiddiwinkys shitting their Jockey Juniors over the coming Armageddon.
Those who would control us are not going to let a chance like this slip by!
Agreed nasska.
All those sun gods like the Ra (Egyptian), Apollo/Helios (Greek), Surya (Hindu), Amaterasu (Japanese), Inti (Incan), and Huitzilopochtli (Aztec) as all must be worshipped & many ongoing tributes bought to the UN researching priests;—
or tohunaga as the Aaaooteeaarooaa Sun God for your ‘afety & ‘ealth & protection.
AI;—
The Māori sun god is Tama-nui-te-rā, meaning “Great Son of the Sun,”
a powerful deity personifying the sun’s life-giving energy, warmth, and cycles,
famous in mythology for being slowed down by the clever demigod Māui to provide longer days for people.
He is linked to seasonal changes through his wives, the summer maiden (Hineraumati) and winter maiden (Hinetakurua), and is central to creation stories, influencing growth and fertility.
at least the Real Nature gods like sun and wind that truly affected life were more realistic than the Plaster of Paris statues (or man carved marble statues) worshiped by Christians !!
Interesting point. The Book of Bullshit waxes long & eloquent on the subject of false idols. ie Exodus 20:4
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth.”
Yet Cathedrals & churches everywhere are plastered with representations of Jesus & figurines of the Virgin Mary are two a penny.
Obviously “false idols” doesn’t mean what I thought it did.
Next you will be telling us that Maui invented daylight saving.
Nothing about the Spring or Autumn maidens? Did they just skip from Summer to Winter?