Massive solar flare about to hit the earth today.

[Steve/sewell]

How did I miss this!! Another strong Solar Flare is about to hit the earth at about mid-day today March 8th.
The largest solar flare in five years is racing toward Earth, threatening to disrupt power grids, GPS and flights, while also putting on a brilliant aurora display.Without making some dire predictions usually a week to a month later a large scale Earth Quake occurs on earth. We will see what happens with this one.

The sun erupted on Tuesday March 6th, and the effects should start smacking Earth later today, according to forecasters at the US Space Weather Prediction Center. They say the flare is growing as it speeds outward from the sun.
"It's hitting us right in the nose," said Joe Kunches, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.The solar storm was likely to last through Friday, but the region that erupted could still send more blasts our way, Kunches said. He was predicting brilliant auroras. Check out this link The sun when it burps is scary.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/2rWB-lhUj-8?rel=0

 

[Steve/sewell]

Here is a good link to talk about the correlation to Earth Quakes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_UrlAXoAug

 

[Steve/sewell]

Here is a good link with a lot of interactive maps. http://mrcometwatch.com/

 

[AntiqueMeds]

If I was out in space I would be concerned.

 

[blobbottlebob]

Pretty cool video Steve. The scale of that explosion must be beyond comprehension. Many times bigger than the earth you would think. You can see shock waves heading out across the surface of the sun from the explosion. Amazing. Interesting that the flare will come towards us when we are just one tiny speck millions of miles away.

 

[RedGinger]

Guess I better hop in the shower now!! What are the best conditions/chances for seeing the Northern Lights in my area?

 

[Steve/sewell]

ORIGINAL: RedGinger

Guess I better hop in the shower now!! What are the best conditions/chances for seeing the Northern Lights in my area? Very Good Chances Red I saw them down here in Southern New Jersey last night.

 

[suzanne]

The power went out in Moline!

 

[surfaceone]

Hey Suzanne,

It wasn't me that said the power has been off in Moline for years.

The outage moved to Bettendorf.

 

[Steve/sewell]

The same area on the sun that produced the massive 5.4 solar flare on March 6th has produced two more CMEs Coronal Mass Ejections earlier today. The United States was spared from the Wednesday the 6th solar flare as we were on the complete opposite side of our orbit which kept us safe, as the beta and gamma rays bombarded the earth on Eurasia's side of the planet. This time it will be our turn to receive the direct hit.
http://www.space.com/14861-solar-flare-active-sun-storms.html Look for your cell phone service to be interrupted and some black outs with the power grid to occur tomorrow.