Strongest of its kind flare may cause blackouts, massive solar storm on Earth

Could this be the Perfect Geo-storm?October is off to a hot start: The sun unleashed a massive X-class solar flare — the “strongest of its kind,” according to Space.com — that has the potential to pummel our planet with a powerful geomagnetic storm this week.The supercharged sunburst erupted from sunspot AR3842 on Tuesday evening.It clocked in at X7.1, making it the second most powerful in the last seven years after the monster X8.7 magnitude in May, Live Science reported.This also triggered a coronal mass ejection (CME) — when plasma and magnetic particles burst forth from the sun’s surface — which is slated to strike the Earth on Friday at around 4 p.m., according to Spaceweather.com.When this occurs, meteorologists predict it will penetrate the Earth’s magnetic field, triggering a strong “G3-class geomagnetic storm” —  the third most powerful category after the G4 and G5.

These phenomena have the potential to impact navigation systems, power grids and even satellite communications, Space.com reported.They also supercharge aurora displays, often causing these natural light shows to be observed far further south than is typical.The flare was one of two that erupted from sunspot AR3842 fired this week.The other was an M-class flare — the second most powerful class — on Monday evening.

Fallout from this outburst caused a temporary radio blackout over large swathes of the Pacific Ocean, notably Hawaii.Fortunately, meteorologists with the U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center did not mention any Earth-bound CMEs that were spawned by said flare, Space.com reported....