FAQ

Solar flares’ radiation doesn’t directly penetrate the atmosphere to physically harm people on the ground, but storms can disrupt radio/GPS/power systems, and there’s a significant body of medical literature studying geomagnetic activity correlations with certain physiological outcomes. In other words, most direct radiation risk is for technology disruptions, space/aviation, etc. Yet under the right conditions it can stress infrastructure and may correlate with health impacts in vulnerable groups.

Some observational studies (including “burst exceedance” analyses) report storm-period ratios >2 for specific metrics, while other datasets show smaller population-level percent changes. In other words, there are reported associations; and while effect sizes vary, the considerable spikes shown by some datasets are enough to justify awareness windows.

Reviews summarize repeated observational associations between geomagnetic storms and cardiovascular outcomes (MI/ACS/stroke), with heterogeneity and confounding risk; HRV changes and circadian pathways are commonly discussed. In other words, one area where the signal keeps popping up is cardiovascular events under disturbed geomagnetic conditions.

Many environmental triggers (heat, air pollution, infections, etc.) show modest relative changes, yet matter because they cluster in time and hit vulnerable subgroups. In other words, “small on average” can still mean “big for the vulnerable.”

Most confusion is mixing ground-level geomagnetic variability with high-altitude radiation exposure. Ground-level concerns are mainly geomagnetic disturbances (measured by indices like Kp) and infrastructure effects; radiation exposure is primarily an aviation/spaceflight issue.

Kp is a standardized global index derived from magnetometer data, useful as a compact measure of geomagnetic disturbance intensity. In other words, Kp is the “how electrically angry is Earth’s magnetic environment?” score.

NOAA’s G-scale is an operational severity classification system for geomagnetic storm severity (G1–G5) based on Kp-related criteria and expected impacts (power systems, satellites, etc.). A real G5 is a “take the grid seriously” day.

It already has; the 1989 storm is a well-known case studied by the power industry. Geomagnetic storms can drive geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) that stress transformers and grid operations, so blackout risk is real, but it also depends on grid design, ground conductivity, and storm characteristics.

The direct threat is usually the grid, not the phone. Small electronics aren’t sitting on kilometer-scale antennas; the bigger risk is surge/outage cascades.

Storm days are when “my GPS is weird” stories multiply. Ionospheric disturbance has a well-established impact on GNSS, potentially degrading accuracy and availability—especially at high latitudes and during strong disturbances.

Auroras are the pretty symptom, not the metric. They correlate with geomagnetic activity but are not a calibrated index. Auroras simply reflect particle precipitation and geomagnetic activity, yet actual visibility depends on location, darkness, clouds, and local conditions. Use Kp/G-scale for operational decisions.

Flares affect Earth’s upper atmosphere quickly (minutes), while CMEs can take ~1–3 days; forecast confidence depends on CME direction/speed and magnetic orientation.

Treat it like a “grid reliability stress test” and reduce avoidable fragility: protect critical devices, charge batteries, ensure backup lighting/comms, avoid unnecessary reliance on GPS/time, and use surge protection/UPS where it matters.

Solar activity follows a roughly 11-year cycle; storm probability increases around maximum, but severe events remain intermittent.

There are studies on mental health and behavioral associations (including circadian/melatonin-related observations), but evidence is less consistent than for operational tech impacts and some cardiovascular endpoints.

You get structured notifications for solar weather phenomena events, such as radio blackouts, solar radiation storms, and geomagnetic storms.

Because you don’t want to be monitoring dashboards at 2 AM. Packaging, timely alerts, and personalization is what we offer.