The Sun has been flaring up more and more as it approaches its Solar Maxima — the period of greatest solar activity during the Sun's 11-year solar cycle — ejecting Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) quite frequently for the past few months. While most of them managed to avoid the Earth, a few of them erupted in our direction, causing geomagnetic storms.

On Thursday, April 14, yet another powerful geomagnetic solar storm is set to slam the Earth, resulting in possible damage on our planet, as per space agencies. Experts fear that this geomagnetic storm might be particularly impactful given how the Sun has been pretty active lately.

The magnetic activity on the corona — the outermost portion of the Sun's atmosphere — causes it to burst regularly, launching plasma and magnetic fields into space and resulting in a CME. And when a CME hits the Earth, the solar ejecta collides with the Earth's magnetic field, causing a geomagnetic storm on our planet.

US agencies NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been monitoring the Sun's CME emissions, and forecast that the storm will impact our world on April 14. Due to the extremely rapid solar wind stream, the storm may intensify after it strikes the Earth, NASA has predicted.

In a tweet, the Centre of Excellence in Space Sciences India (CESSI) said: "Our model fit indicates a very high probability of Earth impact on April 14, 2022, with speeds ranging between 429-575 km/s. Low to Moderate geomagnetic perturbations are expected. Currently, solar wind and near-Earth space environmental conditions are returning to nominal levels."

Solar storms are commonplace in space weather, especially when the Sun becomes more active. CMEs and solar winds that affect the Earth's magnetic field end up triggering spectacular polar lights or aurora polaris, and occasionally disrupt satellite communications.

A geomagnetic storm of this scale is likely to cause issues with electrical grids and other resources on Earth. Regions on higher altitudes will experience G-2 level moderate storms, and may therefore experience power outages and radio signal disruption. As for the mid-latitude regions, these areas may not be as severely affected, but some power outages are still to be expected.

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/space/news/2022-04-13-geomagnetic-storm-on-april-14-radio-signals-may-take-a-hit