Solar storm to strike the Earth tomorrow, NOAA issues warning; Multiple CMEs approaching the planet

tech.hindustantimes.com:

After the lucky escape from a coronal mass ejection (CME) earlier this week, now another solar storm threat is facing us. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a US agency tracking space weather, multiple CMEs can hit the Earth in the next two days between August 4 and 5. These were hurled by an M-class solar flare that exploded on the Earth-facing side of the Sun on August 1. This was part of a major instability event of the active sunspot AR3380. Now, as the CMEs approach, there are fears that it can spark an intense solar storm event, damaging satellites, shortwave radio communication, and more. Check the details.

According to a report by SpaceWeather.com, “Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on Aug. 4th-5th when one or more faint CMEs are expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. They were hurled in our direction by a series of M-class eruptions from active sunspot AR3380 on Aug. 1st and 2nd”.

At present, there are as many as 9 active sunspot regions on the Earth-facing side of the Sun. This means there is a big possibility that further solar flare explosions can happen at any time. If these flares are large enough, they can release a large amount of plasma and solar material into space, which eventually forms CME. 

Compared to some of the stronger solar storm events that we have seen in the previous months, this particular one is not expected to be too strong. But, even minor storms can cause some serious damage. It can disrupt wireless communications and GPS services, causing trouble for airlines, mariners, ham radio controllers, and drone operators. The solar storm can delay flights, cause ships to change course, and disrupt any important information that is shared through