Massive Solar Storms Could Knock Out GPS, Interrupt Radio Transmissions

Two Large Solar Prominences Erupt On Sun

Photo: Getty Images / Getty Images News / Getty Images

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a solar storm warning this week after the two sunspots released coronal mass ejections toward the Earth. The ejections were one day apart.

A coronal mass ejection is a large explosion of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun's atmosphere.

The first is expected to hit the Earth's atmosphere on Monday (January 22), while the second won't strike until Wednesday.

The agency said there is a 60% chance that the massive plasma cloud could create temporary radio blackouts, interfere with GPS devices, and disrupt the power grid in northern Canada and Alaska.

The massive solar storms could also give people in the northern United States a chance to see the aurora borealis, which could light up the sky across parts of Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Physicist Dr. Tamitha Skov said a smaller third solar storm could impact the Earth this week as well. 

"Also, an unstable filament is in the Earth-strike zone now. If it launches it will be a third storm headed towards Earth!" she wrote on X.


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