Yesterday (Dec. 7th @ 1632 UT), the relatively small spot unleashed a C7-class solar flare and hurled a CME toward Earth – Worldwide Earthquake Intensity will increase along with disruptions in signals and GPS units …
A pulse of X-rays from the flare ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere, causing a minor shortwave radio blackout over South America. Affected frequencies were mainly below 10 MHz. Ironically, the flare itself was a source of strong radio emissions. Ham radio operators may have heard a ‘roar’ of solar static during the blackout.
The explosion also hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) toward Earth. Coronagraph images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) show a halo CME leaving the sun a few hours after the flare.
Analysts have modeled the storm cloud; their results confirm that it will likely reach Earth during the second half of Dec. 9th. En route to our planet, the CME will scoop up some slower-moving material from an unrelated solar wind stream. The combined impact could spark geomagnetic storms as strong as category G3, although lesser G1- to G2-class storms are more likely.
More information will be given as the storm hits the planet. Follow the reconnecting Project Destini and California Fault Stress Model for seismic activity.