A few radio blackouts occurred across the United States as a result of the X-class flare.
On Thursday, the Sun released a solar flare that was so intense that it surpassed all previous records for X-class flares over the previous six years and caused several radio frequency blackouts in the United States. Solar flares are caused by magnetic fields on the surface of the Sun twisting together, creating magnetic turbulence and tension, which eventually “snaps” and spews out large amounts of electromagnetic radiation, which includes visible light, X-rays, microwaves, and radio waves. They differ from coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which launch magnetized particles into space, but both can disrupt life on Earth.
Center Weather Service Units (CWSUs), which track the weather from within the Federal Aviation Administration’s air route traffic control centers, experienced degraded radio communication nationwide for two hours following the flare’s peak. Operators at the Cleveland, Ohio CWSU told the NOAA they had “never seen anything like” Thursday’s X flare, which is the biggest of the Sun’s current 11-year cycle. This particular flare occurred on December 14, 2023, and peaked around 12 p.m. Eastern.
A CME did occur on Friday, but according to the NOAA, it was a “weak impact that did not spark a full-fledged geomagnetic storm.” Despite the differences between solar flares and CMEs, the two phenomena are known to occur in close proximity to one another, so the NOAA and the National Weather Service (NWS) Space Weather Prediction Center are now monitoring the Sun for follow-up CMEs that could direct themselves at Earth.
Astrophysicists predicted in March that this point in the solar cycle would bring about more solar flares and sunspots than usual; while periods like these are normal, they could cause disruptions to radio signals, air travel, energy infrastructure, space operations, and other human activity. Thursday’s flare is the manifestation of a period of peak solar activity, which began earlier this year as the Sun’s magnetic fields flipped.