Heads up on solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) - Public Forum.

Plainfield's Hazard Mitigation Committee is holding a special meeting on Wednesday, June 5 at 7 p.m. (Town Hall) to educate and to strategize what we might do... if a massive CME is thrown out from the Sun in the next week or two.

One of the biggest flares in recent history erupted from the Sun last week but fortunately from the back side, facing away.

Now that same sunspot has just about arrived back at an Earth-facing position... and is still spitting out big flares. A damaging CME could cost us our power, our Internet and GPS for weeks or months... so come by and help us sort it out.

Note: Guilty sunspot 3697 is now so large you can see it with eclipse glasses.

"X" class solar flares are the biggest kind... and Sunspot 3697 has sent out bunches of them including those of the big solar storm (and auroras) a couple of weeks ago. It's back.

Today's X flare marks the 50th such flare in this solar cycle... and we still have 2-3 years to go before it ends. (Last solar cycle #24 had an X-flare total of 50 for the entire 7 years... so this cycle #25 is already way more active!)