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   Steve Herman (w7voa@journa.host)'s status on Saturday, 11-May-2024 12:14:43 JST Steve Herman

   People should have "radios, batteries and a generator" ready in the rare case of disruptions to the power grid, advises NOAA.

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     Steve Herman (w7voa@journa.host)'s status on Saturday, 11-May-2024 12:14:40 JST Steve Herman

     in reply to

     And now we've reached an extreme (G5) geomagnetic storm level, according to NOAA.
     Satellite navigation (GPS) may be degraded or unavailable for days.
     Radio - HF (high frequency) radio propagation may be impossible in many areas for one to two days.
     Aurora - Aurora may be seen as low as Florida to southern Texas and southern California.

     Minoru Saba repeated this.
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     Steve Herman (w7voa@journa.host)'s status on Saturday, 11-May-2024 12:14:40 JST Steve Herman

     in reply to

     Too early to know about any damage from the extreme geomagnetic storm, but this appears to be the most serious such event since the 2003 'Halloween solar storms' which cause an hour-long power outage in Sweden and blew up transformers in South Africa.

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     Steve Herman (w7voa@journa.host)'s status on Saturday, 11-May-2024 12:14:41 JST Steve Herman

     in reply to

     There's the potential for larger geomagnetic threats as the current Solar Cycle 25 peaks and then on its downside in the next several years, according to NOAA experts.

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     Steve Herman (w7voa@journa.host)'s status on Saturday, 11-May-2024 12:14:41 JST Steve Herman

     in reply to

     And here we are: NOAA alerts a severe (G4) geomagnetic level reached with a K-index of 8, 9- threshold at 1739 UTC.

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     Steve Herman (w7voa@journa.host)'s status on Saturday, 11-May-2024 12:14:42 JST Steve Herman

     in reply to

     "While the threat is there (to GPS) it is mitigated by the presence of all these spacecraft" able to provide precision, Rob Steenburgh of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center says in response to my question about what a G4 or higher geomagnetic event later today would temporarily mean for navigation.