Tonight there will be a geomagnetic storm

NOAA says that northern states may be able to see the Northern Lights tonight due to a G3 geomagnetic storm that will hit tonight March 31-April 1. I plan to look for it after unplugging electronics and maybe even putting some in the safe.  Does anyone else use a freezer or safe as their faraday cage?

just wondering.

Here is the article:  https://www.livescience.com/cannibal-coronal-mass-ejection-inbound

It's just interesting. Have a great day!

I use popcorn tins or a heavy foiled box as Faraday cages. My stuff will be in them tonight. They were in it last night, as we had a CME hit last night too.

There have been a run of mid-sized flares, (C and low M) in between the high M class flare that threw the CME last night, and the low X class that's throwing this one, so that makes the entire magnetic system a bit less stable. Although the X class flare is fast but not dense (which are the not bad ones) the train of others here is why I'm covering my ass in case it's worse than I expect. I have places for stuff, so it's not a big deal for me to Faraday it all up.

The current prediction is not a scary hit, low level problems, which means electrical fires, power surges, small power outages. The thing I'm battening for is all the in betweens....  I may be over reacting, there's REALLY dirty power in this rental though, and I don't trust it to not damage my equipment. Look at it wrong and it surges or dies, plus they put a smart meter on a year ago, and I trust it as far as I can throw my truck.

And yeah, freezer or fridge works, don't let your stuff get damp. I REALLY like my popcorn tins. I can put a lot of things in them, and they test fine. The way to test your cage is to put a cell phone it it, then try to text it. Calling is easier to block, text is a better test.  Basically a Faraday cage for this is a metal thing that totally covers the item, on all sides. Thinking my big stock pots in the kitchen might work well too. The tighter you can seal it the better. Tape holds things down, but unless it's foil tape, doesn't stop up any cracks.

Look for metal ice chests, metal garbage cans, ammo cans, or just a good couple of layers of tinfoil that nothing peeks out.  A while back I bought a food service roll of heavy duty foil cheaply, that's great stuff for this! Even regular foil works, just make sure there's no cracks or holes, and several layers is better.

:D

Thanks Pearl!  

I like the monitoring website at spaceweather.gov but you gave a perfect explanation of what to expect!

My office has had horribly slow computing and phone service since yesterday afternoon, so I just told everyone it will be over Saturday.  LOL  who knows.

Have a great day!

The main event was relatively mild. K-index briefly reached 5 and USGS low-latitude geomag stations show onset around 02:20 followed by disturbance mild enough that the field diurnal variation is still visible.