{"id":58117,"date":"2023-10-31T06:57:07","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T10:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=58117"},"modified":"2023-10-31T06:57:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T10:57:07","slug":"the-halloween-storm-of-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/10\/the-halloween-storm-of-2003\/","title":{"rendered":"The Halloween Storm of 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following item from Spaceweather.com:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

20 YEARS LATER, THE HALLOWEEN STORMS<\/a><\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

A CME heading straight for Earth on Oct. 28, 2003. The source was an X17-flare in the magnetic canopy of giant sunspot 486. Image credit: SOHO. Movie<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Imagine waking up to this headline: “Half of Earth\u2019s Satellites Lost!” Impossible? It actually happened during the Great Halloween Storms of 2003.<\/p>\n

Turn back the clock 20 years. Solar Cycle 23 was winding down, and space weather forecasters were talking about how quiet things would soon become. Suddenly, the sun unleashed two of the strongest solar flares of the Space Age–an X17 flare on Oct. 28 followed by an X10 on Oct 29, 2003. Both hurled fast CMEs directly toward Earth.<\/p>\n

Traveling 2125 km\/s and 1948 km\/s, respectively, each CME reached Earth in less than a day, sparking extreme (G5) geomagnetic storms on Oct. 29, 30, and 31, 2003. Auroras descended as far south as Georgia, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma: photo gallery.<\/p>\n

Onboard the International Space Station, astronauts took shelter in the hardened Zvezda service module to protect themselves from high energy particles. Meanwhile, airline pilots were frantically changing course. Almost every flight over Earth\u2019s poles detoured to lower latitudes to avoid radiation, costing as much as $100,000 per flight. Many Earth-orbiting satellites experienced data outages, reboots and even unwanted thruster firings. Some operators simply gave up and turned their instruments off. [Continue reading at Spaceweather.com…<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following item from Spaceweather.com: 20 YEARS LATER, THE HALLOWEEN STORMS Imagine waking up to this headline: “Half of Earth\u2019s Satellites Lost!” Impossible? It actually happened during the Great Halloween Storms of 2003. Turn back the clock 20 years. Solar Cycle 23 was winding down, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,810],"tags":[809,2300,10363,4581],"class_list":["post-58117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-space-weather","tag-cme","tag-halloween","tag-halloween-storm-2003","tag-troy-riedel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-f7n","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59351,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/a-large-cme-could-bring-g3-class-geomagnetic-storms\/","url_meta":{"origin":58117,"position":0},"title":"A large CME could bring G3-class geomagnetic storms","author":"Thomas","date":"March 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news from Spaceweather.com: A BIG CME IS COMING:\u00a0This morning's X1-class solar flare hurled a bright CME toward Earth. NASA\u00a0and\u00a0NOAA models\u00a0agree that the storm cloud should reach our planet by the early hours of March 25th. A direct hit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/CME-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":58617,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/x5-class-solar-flare-is-the-strongest-of-solar-cycle-25\/","url_meta":{"origin":58117,"position":1},"title":"X5-Class Solar Flare is the strongest of Solar Cycle 25","author":"Thomas","date":"January 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news from Spaceweather.com: GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G2):\u00a0A CME\u00a0launched into space by yesterday's X5-class solar flare (see below) *does* have an Earth-directed component. According to\u00a0a NASA model, it should strike our planet on Jan. 2nd.\u00a0G2-class geomagnetic storms are possible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/x5_teal_strip.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":58927,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/solar-radiation-storms-and-cannibal-cmes\/","url_meta":{"origin":58117,"position":2},"title":"Solar Radiation Storms and Cannibal CMEs","author":"Thomas","date":"February 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riede, who shares the following news from Spaceweather.com: Spaceweather.com SOLAR RADIATION STORM--NOW: For the second time in less than a week, energetic solar protons are raining down on Earth's upper atmosphere. Forecasters call this a \"solar radiation storm.\" Today's storm (near category S2)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/unnamed-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":58468,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/x2-8-class-solar-flare-strongest-of-this-solar-cycle\/","url_meta":{"origin":58117,"position":3},"title":"X2.8-Class Solar Flare: Strongest of this solar cycle","author":"Thomas","date":"December 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post Contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news via Spaceweather.com: (UPDATED) STRONGEST FLARE OF THE CURRENT SOLAR CYCLE: Sunspot 3514 erupted on Dec. 14th (1702 UT), producing a strong X2.8-class solar flare. This is the strongest flare of Solar Cycle 25 (so far) and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/lopsidedhalo_dice_opt.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":59638,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/spaceweather-com-sunspot-visually-rivals-carringtons-famous-sunspot\/","url_meta":{"origin":58117,"position":4},"title":"Spaceweather.com: Sunspot “visually rivals Carrington’s famous sunspot”","author":"Thomas","date":"May 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news via Spaceweather.com: HUGE SUNSPOT HURLS CME TOWARD EARTH: A sunspot so large it visually rivals Carrington's famous sunspot of 1859 hurled a CME toward Earth today. Don't worry! A new Carrington Event is not in the offing.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/CME-Flare-Carrington-Comparison.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":58311,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/11\/multiple-cmes-and-almost-x-class-flare-incoming\/","url_meta":{"origin":58117,"position":5},"title":"Multiple CMEs and “Almost” X-Class Flare Incoming","author":"Thomas","date":"November 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following item from Spaceweather.com. MULTIPLE CMEs ARE COMING: At least three CMEs are heading for Earth following a series of magnetic filament eruptions (#1, #2 & #3) earlier this week. Their collective arrival could spark G2-class geomagnetic storms with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/flare.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58119,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58117\/revisions\/58119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}