With an upcoming solar flare... should we unplug our electronics?

It can’t hurt to unplug them, but mostly these things just disrupt communication signals. If it was big enough to fry the power grid, you’d need to not only unplug but place your electronics in some sort of shielded container/structure.

Actually, according to our news here the flare already hit..yesterday or the day before. They showed lovely photos of the auroras it caused (they were bright green and massive!).

So.. I think the worst is already past.

Agree with geeky mom. It has hit. seems China got hit the hardest. Tough luck since they have become quite the techno society lately.

odd. The article said the auroras went as far south as Baltimore. im in NJ and didnt see anything :(

According to that article that sounded like it had the potential to do some massive damage. Was that the CME that scientists were predicting that could have completely fucked earth over, or do they still anticipate a larger one?

This is what I found.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110218142451.htm

Solar flares happen, but they don’t do anything more than make radio reception wonky. That means that GPS, radio, satellite TV, and other such things will have degraded/no signal (my GPS intermittently shows me about 100 miles North of my actual location) but aside from that, there is no effect. Home computers will be fine, and no other electronics will be harmed either.

The general rule of thumb is that any solar flare powerful enough to permanently damage consumer electronics will either kill you or give you super-powers. I have seen many solar flares, and I am neither dead nor ready to join the Fantastic 4, Thunderstorms cause far more damage.

@jerv I’ll take your word for it, I don’t have a clue about electronics.
I do know that I love a good Coronal Mass Ejection, I live in the north and auroras are a gift.

@wilma The Settle area isn’t exactly Southern. Too bad I don’t have the same view I used to in the NH countryside though; too much “light pollution” here.

@jerv this might be a good time to take a vacation to a less light polluted area, eh?

Should we unplug electronics for any weather or solar related event?

It’s totally possible for a solar flare to damage the grid similar to an EMP. From what I’ve read, if it’s going to happen it’ll probably be in the next couple years, since we’re approaching the solar maximum. This cycle itself is part of a larger cycle. Can’t remember all the specifics, but we’ll likely get some cool flares whatever else happens.

@incendiary_dan Large things like industrial-sized transformers or anything with many miles of wire can generate a potentially damaging electrical pulse if hit by a magnetic pulse like a solar flare, but you don’t see that sort of stuff in your home unless you are Nikola Tesla.
The worst thing that can happen to the average person is the sort of stuff that happens all the time without incident; spikes and surges. If your electronics survived the last time you had a thunderstorm within 100 miles of you then they should be fine with this flare activity. I use surge protectors on all of my electronics anyways, so I’m not the least bit worried.