Solar storm may bring northern lights to U.S. but also disrupt communications

For the first time in nearly two decades, a severe solar storm is expected to supercharge the northern lights and could make them visible as far south as Alabama. However, the storm could present disruptions with satellite communications, GPS and potentially power grids. NBC News’ Bill Karins reports on why the solar storm is affecting Earth. 

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#SolarStorm #NorthernLights #auroraborealis

[shigshug]

First a total solar eclipse now the northern lights? A great year for astronomy lovers!

[TrafficDE]

I just took some nice pictures of the red and green auroras in south germany. Absolutely stunning.

[jrrarglblarg]

“Aurora borealis
Shining down in Dallas
Can you picture that?

[daddiodizzle]

Great downplaying of the potential destruction of our electrical grid, that would take decades to repair, if a Carrington sized event were to happen today.
Bread and circuses, anyone?

[retired]

I want to see it take out all the power around the world. Watch the chaos happen and reset humans which is needed. lol

[trainsplanesmore]

Hey, Tom, your microphone works, you don't have to be that loud.

[FirstLast-msyl]

NBC needs to upgrade their clickbait game. The title doesn't even mention how SHOCKED they are about this DEVASTATING event that will CHANGE EVERYTHING.

[Misty-gcbq]

Sun activity is forecasted to be at it's peak in 2025. I can't imagine what we're in for.

[NahualliUoxtitla]

Everyone here has been complaining about reception issues today.

[DimJongUn]

"or we could leave you here and I could go" 😂 No clue who this meteorologist is, but I immediately love him

[cynthiajones]

"I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. Acts 2:29 "The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord." Acts 2:20 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, Acts 3:19

[cdalton]

Just another day. No issues will result from it. Pretty to look at…

[johnhenryruminski]

THE ALMIGHTY IS HERE GET READY !!!! Love John !!!!

[sinbadwt]

we ain't getting to the level of the old Miyake events; be very grateful we are kind of due one as they occur around every 1, 000 years lol. They can span over decade for us to actually recover from it... and the geomagnetic storm can be x100 as powerful as the 1859 Carrington event

[OFRajaTv]

Earth POV:

Hes acting up again guys Jupiter send in more asteroids please before he eats us .

[smugsneasel]

Superintendent Chalmers: Aurora Borealis?! At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized as south as Alabama?!
Skinner: Yes.

[jholt]

The truth is no one knows what's going to happen. The CMEs are still erupting. What's hitting us now is just the first of five CMEs that have erupted so far from the same sunspot complex that emerged on the 9th. The biggest of the five CMEs observed so far just happened last night and the plasma these CMEs are ejecting can travel at varying speeds of between 250 and 3000 km/s; the fastest waves reaching Earth within 15 hours, and the slowest taking as long as several days to reach us. Statistically speaking, it's unlikely this CME storm will be as severe as the Carrington Event of 1859, but there's no guarantee of that right now, and no way of knowing for sure until the strongest plasma waves reach the L1 Lagrange Point where the NOAA satellite is.

If this does turn out to be as big as the 1859 event our first hint would be the total destruction of such Lagrange Point satellites and less than a half hour later the power could go out all over the planet. Since we're nowhere near prepared for such widespread damage to our power grid transformers, it could be as long as ten years before the lights come back on. No power, no internet, no TV, no phones, no refrigeration, and eventually no food at the grocery stores or gas at the gas stations. Welcome back to the stone age and the greatest population crash in human history. From over 8 billion today to less than 1 billion by 2050.

No, that probably won't happen. From what I know about CMEs, Carrington size events only happen on average about once in a hundred years, but that's an average, not a cycle you can set your watch by. And the really big CMEs, from 100 times up to 1, 000 times more powerful than 1859 have only hit Earth three times in the last 2, 700 years. "Scientists analyzing tree rings detected spikes of carbon-14 in the years 660 B.C., A.D. 774 and A.D. 994 that came from superflares that were significantly stronger than the Carrington Event."

Hopefully all we'll see out of this is a pretty light show, but if you're wondering what kind of natural event has the greatest probability of putting an end to civilization as we know it, this one's your huckleberry. It could be 100 years from now, or in 11 years during the next solar cycle, or maybe tomorrow, but until we harden our infrastructure against such events odds are the Sun's eventually gonna get us.

[joedirt]

4:26 the sunspot is 16x larger than EARTH NOT the "U.S"🤦🤦🤦

[danielbutler]

So this would probably have explained the red sky in Ohio early in the year seen around night time. It wasn't emotion imagine when a controller as we get closer to the celestial event cars and timing and direction. Trust me it's not a scary time and that is actually kind of cool the Ben 10 episode with him talking to Dr Paradise explains why I said it like that.

[MarshaWilliams-uw]

That IS exciting!!! Mother Nature is so AWESOME!