Rare ‘four-way’ solar storm set to hit Earth, experts warn of major impact

Earth is bracing for major disruptions to communications, GPS, and technology as a rare four-way solar storm is racing towards the planet.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a warning about a geomagnetic storm on Thursday. The solar flares could damage or affect power grids, radio signals, and navigation systems.

Solar storms occur when coronal mass ejections (CMEs), the charged particles emitted by the sun, collide with Earth’s magnetic field. As a result, the collision creates ripples.

According to Tamitha Skov, space weather scientist, “Storms 2 to 4 arrive starting midday on October 15. We could be dealing with their effects until early October 17, assuming the sun doesn't send any more Earth-directed storms.”

As per Skov observations, the first CME will only cause a slight disturbance. On the contrary the next three storms are “Pancaked together” thereby creating amplified disruptions in succession.

A weaker geomagnetic storm could linger into Friday with limited impact.

This week, the solar activity has been strongly driven by a massive and tangled cluster of dark spots on the sun called Region AR4246.

The sun storm is projected to affect the northern parts of the US. Owing to the stronger solar activity, the northern lights might be seen farther south in Iowa or northern Illinois.

But the auroras could be seen across the northern and upper Midwest, from New York to Idaho, and possibly including states like Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana.