I woke up this morning to a bunch of emails from the SWPC alert service!
G3 level storms are pretty rare. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen that and the last time was during the last solar cycle, but here we are! The great fireball in the sky has belched forward a disruptive geomagnetic storm.
Here are the possible effects as per NOAA:
Power systems: Voltage corrections may be required, false alarms triggered on some protection devices.
Spacecraft operations: Surface charging may occur on satellite components, drag may increase on low-Earth-orbit satellites, and corrections may be needed for orientation problems.
Other systems: Intermittent satellite navigation and low-frequency radio navigation problems may occur, HF radio may be intermittent, and aurora has been seen as low as Illinois and Oregon (typically 50° geomagnetic lat.).
Make no mistake, a G3 level storm can induce current in power lines, causing false alarms and possible tripping protective devices. This happened in Quebec in the 90’s and caused a huge blackout that lasted many hours…right at the afternoon rush hour! No traffic lights, no subways.