Topband: Solar Disturbance

[Bill Tippett]

This could have some interesting effects on 160 propagation:

Solar Flare Could Disrupt Power Saturday, U.S Says 
July 15 12:18am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A huge solar flare produced by a large sunspot group is
expected to produce a geomagnetic storm that could disrupt electric power
grids and
satellite operations, U.S. government scientists predicted on Friday. 

The flare spewed out billions of tons of plasma and charged particles at
6:24 a.m. EDT
(1024 GMT) on Friday that are expected to reach the Earth's magnetic field
when it is
Saturday afternoon on the U.S. East Coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) said. 

NOAA's Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado, which detected the flare,
predicted that a geomagnetic storm could last until Monday. The charged
particles are
making the 93 million mile (150 million km) trip toward Earth at 3 million
miles per hour
(4.82 million kph), it said. 

``The storm is expected to reach strong to severe levels ... which can adversely
affect satellite operations and power grids,'' the center warned in a
statement. 


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