Solar Storm: Internet May Flare Up, But So May Northern Lights (Video)

By: Beth Dalbey

A solar flare could foul up communications systems and knock out power grids in the coming days. (Photo: NOAA National Weather Service Space Weather Prediction Center)

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If your Internet and GPS systems are wonky over the coming days, it could be the fault of a major solar flare unleashed by the Sun Wednesday afternoon.

Besides potentially snarling up communications systems and knocking out power on Earth, the flare could also wreck havoc with orbiting satellites according to NOAA’S Space Weather Prediction Center.

The flare was an X-class solar flare, the most powerful type, but poses no danger to anyone on Earth or to the astronauts living aboard the International Space Station, NASA told Space.com.

Some high-frequency radio communications on Earth have already been affected, but further analysis is necessary to determine if consumer electronics and power grids will be affected.

It depends on whether the sunspot fired off a coronal mass ejection – a cloud of super-hot plasma, Space.com exlained, and triggered geomagnetic storms.

If that’s the case, problems could persist through the weekend.

But there’s a silver lining in this potential storm, especially if you’re in the northern United States or Canada. Geomagnetic storms can intensify the northern lights.