STORMY SUN COULD KNOCK OUT POWER GRIDS: REPORT
The sun follows a predictable 11 year activity cycle, with the next period of stormy activity expected to begin in 2012-13.
A large explosion on the surface of the sun could release billions of tones of superheated magnetically charged gas at a speed of a million miles per hour, and when that gas hits the earth's magnetic field, it can trigger a big solar storm.
"When you start to imagine not having electricity in a sizeable fraction of a country or a continent for weeks or even months ... it's serious business,"
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