As we head into the weekend of May 10th – May 12th, 2024, we’re on high alert for multiple CMEs (coronal mass ejections) from solar flares that popped midweek. The impact waves from those flares take a couple of days to arrive, and having 3 to 4 M-class and X-class flares erupt one after another will certainly spike our solar storm activity here on earth once those impact waves arrive. You can expect some KP-8 and KP-9 spikes on the Planetary K-Index measuring the strength of geomagnetic storm activity on earth, meaning that there will be possible disruptions to power grids or venerable, unshielded electronics, and you may see some pretty aurora action dipping much further south than usual. Keep your eyes on the skies and your minds on supplies.

Here is where you’ll see the geomagnetic storm measurements from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration):

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index

Here are a couple of articles mentioning the upcoming solar storms, though there will be hundreds of articles popping up during the next two days.

FROM EARTH.COM
https://www.earth.com/news/earth-prepares-impact-three-cme-events-solar-storms/

FROM NEWSWEEK:
https://www.newsweek.com/solar-storm-geomagnetic-cme-hitting-earth-1898763

Why it is Worse Than You Think

We’ve mentioned before on this blog the reasons that even smaller X-Class solar flares are more of a threat now than they have been in the past. Earth’s magnetic field is weakening at an accelerated pace since the Carrington Event in 1859. That was an event that would have shut down much of today’s power grid, but happened at a time when there was much less electronics to fry– just a good number of telegraph stations started on fire. Earth’s magnetic poles have been wandering steadily since they’ve been tracked, but that wandering took a sudden turn southward and has been accelerating since 1859 and is projected to continue in that pattern. Because of the wandering poles and other cosmic influences (the polarity of the galactic sheet), our magnetic shield is not as able to stop incoming CME’s as affectively as it used to. That means that it takes less powerful flares to trigger more intense storms now than in the past.

Here is a look at the wandering of the magnetic north pole over time, as mapped by NOAA:

The Carrington Event is where the red/pink, slower-moving direction changed abruptly to become the fast-moving orange line.

The Solar Death Ray is Understable

Speaking of solar death rays, Doomsday Discs has a PDGA approved disc called the Solar Death Ray, and it is a very unique design which has a series of grooves along the top of the flight plate which not only provide extra control and grip, but act as a model for multiple shock-waves rippling outward from the center (SUN) of our solar system to send our planet back to the stone age.

Will the Solar Death Ray disc arrive by this weekend’s series of storms? Probably not… but the first run is on the way and should arrive soon! Just like with our sun’s unpredictable flare outbursts, we know the kill-shot is coming. We just don’t know exactly when.

GO DOWN THROWING!