NASA says a MASSIVE Geomagnetic storm will hit Earth tomorrow; should you stay at home?

tech.hindustantimes.com:

NASA: Our Sun has bombarded Earth with yet another massive geomagnetic storm, and this time it is a really strong one. According to NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a halo coronal mass ejection (CME) was spotted racing towards the Earth. On Tuesday, it was confirmed that the resultant geomagnetic storm will hit Earth on April 14, tomorrow. It is a G2-class geomagnetic storm. Should you be scared and stay indoors? Read on to find out.

The Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India (CESSI) took to Twitter yesterday and shared the details of this upcoming storm. The post stated, “A halo CME was detected by SOHO LASCO on 11 April. Our model fit indicates a very high probability of Earth impact on 14 April, 2022 with speeds ranging between 429-575 km/s+”.

The geomagnetic storm is classified under 5 labels starting from G1 to G5, where G1 is a low level storm with minimal impact and G5 is an extremely strong solar storm with severe damage potential. In theory, a G5-class geomagnetic storm can cause damage to satellites, disrupt GPS, mobile phone networks, internet connectivity and power grid failure. Luckily, the Geomagnetic storm that will hit the Earth tomorrow is not that strong. But still a G2 solar storm will have some consequences.

According to NASA, shortwave radio blackout and damage to transformers and power grid is possible. Voltage fluctuations can also take place, resulting in damaging electrical appliances. Further, GPS users can also face disruptions, according to Space weather physicist Tamitha Skov.

But does that mean that you should stay locked inside your houses and not get out? Not exactly. While geomagnetic storms affect electronic devices and power grids due to high