High speed solar storm may hit Earth today, to impact GPS, mobile phones signals

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Jul 13, 2021, 10:23 AM IST

The storm is moving towards the direction of the earth and is expected to batter parts of the planet between July 11-12

With all the chaos happening in the world, we will have to face a solar storm as well this weekend. As per the experts, a geomagnetic storm is expected to hit the Earth's atmosphere this weekend and weather forecasters have been asked to issue warnings. 

According to a report, this storm is a result of solar winds travelling at a speed of a million miles an hour and is expected to hit the Earth between Sunday and Monday. Reportedly, there is a hole that has opened up in the atmosphere of the Sun creating a stream of charged particles and high-speed solar winds. The storm is moving towards the direction of the earth and is expected to batter parts of the planet between July 11-12. 

Experts fear that the strong winds may trigger a geomagnetic storm in Earth's magnetosphere which includes the upper reaches of Earth in space and this may cause the emergence of visually pleasing auroras in north and south latitudinous regions.

What is a geomagnetic storm?

Geomagnetic storms basically refer to major or minor disturbances occurring in Earth's magnetosphere due to the efficient exchange of energy from solar winds entering Earth's space environment. 

According to estimates by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), solar winds are known to blow at a speed of one million miles per hour. Currently, the winds are travelling at a speed of 1.6 million kilometres per hour towards the Earth. The speed can be expected to increase. 

As per previous reports, the National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center had previously predicted in June about a G-1 class geomagnetic storm that had formed as a result of swift solar winds.