Maybe you saw the lights. Or maybe you just caught the news on Tim Pool’s show. It was an important story: a big solar storm that, had it been just a tad more intense could’ve taken down computers (which are in your watch and toaster) as well as the electric grid.
Why, yes, it could have ended our civilization, which is now utterly dependent on easily-overloaded electrical circuits and electronic components.
Actually, it was two sets of solar storms. And they had nothing to do with manmade global warming or MAGA politics or the death of Hollywood:
A severe (G4) geomagnetic storm lit up skies across the Northern Hemisphere overnight (Nov. 11 – 12), with vivid northern lights visible across Canada, the U.S, and as far south as Mexico.
The incredible display followed the arrival of multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — eruptions of magnetic field and plasma from the sun — launched by sunspot AR4274, one of the most energetic sunspot groups of the current solar cycle. The ongoing storm ranks among the strongest of Solar Cycle 25 and last night’s peak at G4 clocked in as the third strongest geomagnetic storm this solar cycle. The first two CMEs struck in quick succession last night, compressing Earth’s magnetic field and unleashing spectacular aurora shows that lasted well into the night.
Daisy Dobrijevic, “Severe geomagnetic storm sparks northern lights across North America and as far south as Mexico,” Space.com (November 12, 2025).
This was a set of real events that took place this past week. Thankfully, we live on to talk about manmade global warming, MAGA politics, and the death of Hollywood.
As Rona Barrett likes to say, keep thinking the good thoughts.