US hit by blackouts as sun releases colossal burst of radiation... and experts warn more is to come
The solar flare, classified as an X1.2 flare, one of the most severe types, exploded from the sun's Earth-facing side at around 6pm ET.
'X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about their strength,' NASA shared in a release.
The eruption unleashed a burst of ionizing radiation, magnetic energy and heat capable of interfering with technology on Earth.
Dr Tamitha Skov, an independent space weather physicist, said the flare's impact was strongest in the western hemisphere, affecting areas including the US West Coast, Alaska, eastern Russia, the Asia-Pacific region and potentially New Zealand.
Almost immediately, the flare triggered a shortwave radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean, with ham radio operators in Hawaii reporting sudden signal loss.
NASA and other space weather agencies are now closely monitoring sunspot region 4114, the source of the flare. Sunspots are cooler than other parts of the surface.
Sunsport 4114 is expected to remain active in the coming days, and scientists warn that another major flare could erupt as soon as today.
'Another flare may be in the offing today. Sunspot 4114 is large and unstable, with a 'delta-class' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong explosions,' the team at SpaceWeather.com shared.
A delta-class magnetic field is like a pressure cooker of magnetic energy on the sun, and it is often a warning sign that a big solar flare is to come.
Officials said in a Wednesday update that the solar flare likely came with a huge burst of charged solar particles, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), which will take about 15 to 72 hours to reach Earth.
A G1 geomagnetic storm watch has been issued for Friday, which is the least powerful on the scale of five.
However, it has the potential to cause minor fluctuations in power grids, slight impacts on satellite operations and make the aurora borealis visible at high latitudes.
In May, experts revealed they conducted an extreme space weather scenario and found Earth may not survive.
They conducted a 'solar storm emergency drill', simulating what would happen if a major geomagnetic storm hit our planet.
Results showed power grids failed, blackouts were triggered and communication broke down across the US.
Dr Tamitha Skov, an independent space weather physicist, said the flare's impact was strongest in the western hemisphere, affecting areas including the US West Coast, Alaska, eastern Russia, the Asia-Pacific region and potentially New Zealand
The exercise ran four simulations of geomagnetic storms of different severities.
One scenario included a 'solar superstorm', strong enough to cause an 'internet apocalypse,' resulting in power grid disruptions across the entire US, with the eastern seaboard experiencing blackouts, which lasted for weeks.
Not only were power grids impacted, but railways and pipelines were also knocked offline, causing mass disruptions of travel and dramatic price increases of gas.
Scientists are now calling for a whole-of-government planning approach, arguing it will be critical for protecting America from cosmic disaster.
That would include deploying more satellites to monitor space weather, enhancing real-time data collection to improve forecasting models and providing earlier warnings.
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Type: memory foam Firmness: advertised as medium, panel rated as 5/10Depth: 21, 25 (as tested) and 30cm Cover: unzip to wash at 40CTurn or rotate: don't turn; you can rotate 'to maintain even comfort'Trial period: 100 nightsWarranty: 10 yearsOld mattress recycling: not offered in UKSustainability credentials: Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified; Pro mattresses are Danish Indoor Climate labelled; UK warehouse operations are zero landfill; Tempur aims to be carbon neutral by 2040 You wait years for a mattress to turn up without being vacuum-shrunk, then they all come at once. As with the Millbrook Wool Luxury 4000, the Tempur arrived full-size and flat. That meant it was ready to sleep on immediately, unlike the oodles of bed-in-a-box mattresses I've tested, and it came packed in significantly less plastic wrapping than they did. The downside of receiving a non-shrunk mattress is that it's harder to get it up the stairs. 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Iggy the cat was particularly keen to hog the stitched fabric when July's night-time temperatures exceeded 20C, perhaps because his 4kg body couldn't sink into the heat-trapping memory foam. Our bodies did sink into it, however. As we slept, the foam formed a cocoon around us (mainly our bums), and made us feel like we were floating in the mattress rather than on top of it. There was no sense of sagging, just of strong, deliberate cradling. Firmer mattresses are more to my taste, but they can give me niggling pain from an old rib injury, and the Tempur never did. If you live with pain and find it hard to sleep as a result, the memory foam upper layers of this mattress could be just what you need. My 85-year-old dad, Don, also enjoyed the pain relief of the mattress but has since switched back to the firmer surface to which he's more accustomed. He first tried it lying on his back and said: 'Oh, I like that … I think,' which echoed my own thoughts. I asked him to turn on to his right side to test his recently injured shoulder and hip, and he said there was no pain – a welcome relief for us both. The mattress's motion isolation is exceptionally good. This is something I've learned to expect from highly cushioned memory foam because it absorbs the movement of your body and dramatically cuts down on bounce. Alan and I are fidgety sleepers, so motion isolation helps us rest without being disturbed by each other. As mentioned, some of the higher-density layers of Tempur's mattress are decidedly firm. The Pro Plus SmartCool is also available in two firmer versions than the one I tested. But the medium version quickly turned out to be an over-enthusiastic hugger, at least for our tastes. After the initially pleasurable cradling, it just kept going until it seemed to be swallowing us. 'My bum is disappearing into it,' said Don. He and I are very small, so we didn't sink as far into this mattress as a person of larger build would. My husband, Alan, thoroughly average size, sank too far for comfort and declared it 'like being sucked into quicksand'. We wanted to give the Tempur a fair chance, so we used it on our slatted bed base for several nights, then Don used it on his solid divan base. It never felt lumpy or saggy, but my lower back felt unsupported, and our sleeping bodies made impressions so deep that it became difficult to roll over. If your sleep style involves plenty of tossing and turning, a firmer mattress will suit you better. Edge support is frankly poor for a mattress that costs this much. Even a soft mattress should have some firm reinforcement around the sides to make it easy to get into and out, but when we tried sitting on the edge, we all felt like we were sliding off it. Sitting up to read is difficult because your weight is concentrated on your bum, and you just, well, sink. Even the cover's cooling ability had its limits, as Alan and I discovered when sinking into the foam beneath it. We woke in the night, complaining that we felt we were cooking in the heat of our sleeping bodies. The cover helps by forming a barrier between you and the foam, but we found – in our experience and our heat-retention tests – that it couldn't stop the foam getting hotter than a mattress that contains springs. If you tend to overheat at night all year round, an all-foam mattress isn't for you. Environmental kudos is a challenge for a company that uses this much foam. High-viscosity polyurethane foam is non-biodegradable, has a chemical-intensive manufacturing process and is harder to recycle than fabric or springs. Given all this, Tempur has made decent strides in sustainability. The most noticeable example for me was the dramatic reduction in plastic packaging compared with bed-in-a-box mattresses. There isn't even any cardboard to get rid of. Behind the scenes, Tempur's products are Oeko-Tex Standard 100-certified, and its Danish production facility is ISO-certified for quality, environment, health and safety, and energy. Tempur mattresses are made in Denmark, and its Pro and One mattresses are certified by the Danish Indoor Climate Labelling scheme, a voluntary but internationally recognised standard for chemical compound emissions. Tempur's UK warehouses and distribution centres have been zero landfill since 2019, and the company aims to be carbon neutral by 2040. Foam isn't easy to recycle, but Tempur offers ideas on its environmental sustainability page. Old foam 'can be cleaned and shredded for use in new products, such as carpet underlay', it says, so I'm disappointed that the company doesn't offer to do this with its UK customers' old mattresses. Mattress collection is offered in the US 'on request', but not here. Tempur UK does at least run an online outlet store where you can buy refurbished products, including mattresses that have been returned by buyers within the 100-night trial. The medium version of the Pro Plus SmartCool is a soft, cradling mattress with excellent pressure relief. If you love your beds on the plush side, you may decide it's worth every penny. However, this sumptuous mattress is not for everyone – including my family and me. Perhaps the quicksand sensation was too close to our childhood nightmares to give us the sleep of our dreams. Jane Hoskyn is a features journalist and WFH pioneer with three decades of experience in rearranging bookshelves and 'testing' coffee machines while deadlines loom. Her work has made her a low-key expert in all manner of consumables, from sports watches to solar panels. She would always rather be in the woods
