If you’re into ham radio, you’ve probably heard about Solar Maxima/Minima issues, and how they affect high frequency propagation, and the various other things good old Sol affects.

This is for the other folks. Those of you that aren’t ham radio people, the effect the sun has on many of our systems is huge. Of course, I’m not talking about the weather – I’m talking about things like the GPS system, the power grid, computers, telecom, data storage, and all sorts of other systems that can, and have been, affected by “Solar Storms”.

What am I leading up to? Well, it seems that the good folks at NASA have released some thoughts on the next solar maximum, and potential trouble areas. I’ve included a map here that gives some idea as to the vulnerable areas.

Map of potential power grid loss in USA

Here’s another, more detailed map that hits vulnerability state by state:

Note also what the caption says on that map “Regions with high percentages of at-risk capacity cold experience long-duration outages that could extend multiple years”. Note also that the data is fairly current, not like some of the fallout maps out there, that are popular to look at and ponder.

For those of you that are relocating, take a look at the maps, and think about this. It’s definitely something to consider, both from a pro and con standpoint.

For the full article, go here, it’s pretty interesting stuff:http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/21jan_severespaceweather

-Greg

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