Space Weather
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As if earth's weather isn't weird enough, now there is space weather to worry about.

Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is the Weather Notebook.

Space weather does not refer to 40% chance of showers on the fourth moon of Jupiter! Rather, it refers to flare-ups in solar activity that bombard earth with gusts of electrically charged ions and electrons. As you might expect, everything about space weather is on an epic scale: solar winds blowing at speeds of up to 5 million miles per hour carry a million tons of the sun's matter into space every second, huge bubbles of gas known as coronal mass ejections billow off the sun like froth off a witch's brew, while solar flares explode with the force of 100 hurricanes.

Space weather does not topple trees or flood our basements. But a major solar flare can knock out high-frequency communications in the poles. It can also damage satellites and blow out industrial power grids, and zap passengers in high-flying aircraft with as much radiation as a chest X-ray. On the plus side, solar winds strong enough to penetrate the earth's magnetic shield are responsible for the fantastic atmospheric light shows known as the auroras. Because of the potential hazards of space storms, the latest geostationary satellite, known as GOES M, is equipped with a solar x-ray imager that beams back 1 image every minute.

Forecasting space weather may still be in its infancy, but there's already a web site ­ www.spaceweather.com ­ where you can check out the latest.

Thanks today to Seattle writer David Laskin. The Weather Notebook is produced at the Mount Washington Observatory and is underwritten in part by Subaru of America. Thanks today to producer Margaret Landsman.