Scary solar storm today as terrible flanking CME to smash into Earth

tech.hindustantimes.com:

It has not even been a full week since one of the strongest G4-class geomagnetic storm struck the Earth and now, another similarly powerful storm is set to hit our planet today, April 28. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a coronal mass ejection (CME) cloud is expected to sideswipe our planet, sparking another solar storm event. The CME was released on April 24 when a magnetic filament on the surface of the Sun turned unstable and exploded. With this solar storm set to hit the Earth in likely a few hours, you should know what to expect.

A SpaceWeather report has revealed the details around the prediction. It stated, “NOAA forecasters say that minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on April 27th when a CME is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. It was hurled into space on April 24th by an explosion in the sun's southern hemisphere. Most of the CME will sail south of Earth, but its northern flank will probably touch our planet”.

There are two sides to this incoming solar storm. First, on a luckier note, the incoming CME is not a cannibal CME. For the unaware, a cannibal CME is one which has consumed other CME clouds along its path and as a result, has turned extremely powerful. Second, the CME strike will not be a head-on collision but rather a glancing blow. The cloud has flanked the Earth and while the southern end is likely to entirely miss the Earth, it's the northern end that can hit us.

Due to these factors, it is believed that the resulting geomagnetic storm may not be a severe one, the likes of which we saw last weekend. However, things can take a turn for the worse if the CME meets solar wind and either changes direction or gets further intensified. In that case, the