snowstorm travel technology

The Perfect Storm

Being a global leader demands a large degree of anticipation to where the travel industry is heading and getting there first.

We have created the perfect storm by enabling our customers to seamlessly leverage our technology, content and fulfillment services to thrive above others.

Our Divisions

Our breakthrough turn key packaging technology solution combined with global content and fulfillment services provides you with the ability to offer your customers a great value for booking directly with you.

Get the maximum profit out of your Hotel bookings with the Package Technology Solution

We provide a turnkey packaging technology solution for companies wanting to offer additional packages beyond their existing scope., snowstorm allows you to upsell: hotel rooms, flights, car rentals, activities, transfers and much more.

oneWURLD allows Travel Agencies – both Leisure and Corporate to compete and grow utilizing our state of the art technology solutions fully integrated with the most comprehensive content and fulfillment services in the market today.

An all-in-one platform that will change the way you work

Onewurld allows travel agencies – both leisure and corporate to compete, grow, pivot to stay relevant, and drive improved sales and profits utilizing a fully integrated travel retailing solution., our disruptive platform consists of numerous technology components that have been built by travel professionals from around the world to fit the needs of the new travel landscape., above & beyond.

The Above and Beyond hotel solution has been created for today’s world of travel and executed with over 100 years of hotel industry experience.

Our hotel partners have access to state of the art hotel technology with distribution through 60,000 plus travel agents across 5 continents generating over 8 million plus room nights.

A hotel programme for today’s world

The above & beyond focus is purely on hotels with distribution through lucrative sme travel agencies, travel management companies, and networks around the globe. by combining the latest technology, we offer hotels a truly unique offering in the hotel programme space delivering amazing results at a low cost., past data allows you to be reactive – future data opens a world of opportunity to flex your rates and offer benefits in line with how you compare to your competitors to ensure you maximize your yield in all booking channels..

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All-in-one platform that allows Leisure and Corporate Travel Agencies to compete and thrive in the marketplace.

State of the art hotel technology with distribution through +60k agents across 5 continents generating over 8MM room nights.

Breakthrough package technology with world-class content and fulfillment services allowing hoteliers to monetize traffic.

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GlobalStar Forms Partnership With Snowstorm Technologies

by: Harvey Chipkin

Categories: News Travel Management Companies Technology

Tags: Travel Management Companies Technology GlobalStar Snowstorm Technologies

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Snowstorm Technologies selects CTW as their preferred airline shopping platform USA - English USA - English

Snowstorm Technologies is a global leader in providing innovative solutions to travel companies of all shapes and sizes. Its OneWurld suite of integrated travel technology solutions powers over 60,000 desktops for Corporate, Leisure, Independent Contractor and Loyalty Agencies worldwide. CTW Platform is the most advanced airline shopping and pricing system on the market, designed with agents' needs in mind. The extensive features of the CTW pricing system will enable Snowstorm to develop new tools to further enhance the user experience of its OneWurld customers with fully automated trip management.

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Mar 26, 2021, 18:00 ET

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ATLANTA , March 26, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Snowstorm Technologies is a global leader in providing innovative solutions to travel companies of all shapes and sizes. Its OneWurld agent desktop sets the standard for collaborative booking solutions, allowing agents and their customers seamless access throughout the travel cycle – from shopping to booking to trip management. With OneWurld agents can access the broadest range of content with special rates across air, hotel, car, cruise, rail, bus, tours, and activities. OneWurld is an entire suite of integrated travel technology solutions that powers over 60,000 desktops for Corporate, Leisure, Independent Contractor and Loyalty Agencies worldwide to meet and triumph over the competitive challenges in the travel industry.

The CTW Platform is the most advanced airline shopping and pricing system on the market and the only system to offer two years of historical flight schedules and fares with up-to-the-minute accuracy, which is crucial for post-ticketing servicing. Designed with agents' needs in mind, the CTW Platform makes comparison shopping between complete airline offers easy. It simplifies the booking process and enables full automation of post-booking trip management, keeping all order elements in sync.

Snowstorm Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Riaz Pisani commented: "CTW's unparalleled set of features and performance will improve the quality of our services. We undertook an extensive review of the CTW Platform and found that it is capable of returning all airline products in a single display, in real time and can handle more fares from any source than other pricing and shopping engines. The extensive features of the CTW pricing system will enable Snowstorm to develop new tools to further enhance the user experience of our OneWurld customers with fully automated trip management."

CTW CEO Assen Vassilev added: "CTW and Snowstorm are a perfect match. We are very excited to work with a technologically savvy partner who gets our product. The OneWurld platform is the most comprehensive travel management platform we've come across. We look forward to working with the Snowstorm team to make full use of our system capabilities to bring about an even better and easier air shopping experience to the OneWurld customers across the globe."

About Snowstorm Technologies (UK) Ltd: A revolutionary integrated travel retailing solution that provides travel agents and TMCs with the necessary tools to PIVOT to stay relevant, compete, grow, drive sales and increase profitability in the post Covid-19 environment. The platform provides agents with a comprehensive Agent Desktop with world class B2B and B2B2 collaborative booking solutions, a powerful mid and back office, a fully integrated Corporate Booking Tool geared for the SME market and a full end to end Lead Generation and Marketing platform.

About CTW: CTW has developed several generations of airline shopping and pricing systems. The CTW Platform provides complete shopping, fares and pricing, re-shopping and ancillaries. CTW Network connects content providers and retailers worldwide. CTW Platform currently provides final pricing and repricing for 20% of all ARC/BSP issued airline tickets in the world and has operations in Europe , North America , Asia and Oceania.

Contacts: Riaz Pisani , Chief Strategy Officer, Snowstorm Technologies; email: [email protected] Andrew Cuomo , Chief Commercial Officer, CTW; email: [email protected]

Media Contact

Mario Sotirov , CTW, +1 6466433875, [email protected]

Andrew Cuomo , CTW, [email protected]

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Posted by Lee Hayhurst on Mar 3rd, 2021 at 11:50

Snowstorm Technologies to launch OneWurld agent desktop with GlobalStar alliance

Partnership will see new hybrid hotel booking programme Above & Beyond introduced

Snowstorm Technologies has announced an alliance with international travel management network GlobalStar Travel Management.

The distribution, technology, content and knowledge deal will see the corporate travel specialist support the launch of Snowstorm’s OneWurld agent desktop product.

Snowstorm said this will bring together global distribution with “leading edge technology”, a wide breadth of content and the “combined experience of two established management teams”.

The partnership will also see new hybrid hotel programme called Above & Beyond introduced.

The OneWurld desktop includes an SME-focused corporate booking tool and has been developed in partnership with GlobalStar, among other key corporate agencies and network members.

Goncalo Fernandes, executive director of information technology and supplier relations, at GlobalStar, said:

“We saw an opportunity to create a corporate booking and management tool that was seamless and easy to use for travellers, travel bookers, approvers and agents via desktop or mobile device.

“An advanced yet simple platform that has all the functionality and comprehensive global content of far more complicated booking tools at a price that we believe will completely disrupt this segment.”

The Above & beyond hotel programme will focus on driving competitive rates to its bookers, as well as saving hotel partners money in distribution costs.

The hybrid solution provides a mix of GDS, direct connect and OTA rates from all major hotel groups and independent chains globally and is both corporate and leisure focussed.

Steve Hartwell, president of GlobalStar, said “We have partnered with Snowstorm on their hotel booking platform for the last three years.

“As we have worked more closely together we have come to fully understand the value of OneWurld as a complete booking and management travel solution for all our network agency partners whether they offer corporate or leisure or a combination.

“Snowstorm has been a valuable partner in helping us foresee and navigate the new travel landscape. We are very pleased to be forging a shared vision that will help both companies to better compete, grow and flourish.”

Riaz Pisani, chief strategy officer of OneWurld, added: “COVID-19 has provided the opportunity for both companies to step back from the day-to-day business operations and take a long hard look at what travel agencies within the GlobalStar Network will need in the future and fast track the development of the OneWurld Desktop Solution to enable agents to succeed and thrive in the new marketplace.

“This is the perfect combination of leading-edge technology and distribution with an unbeatable breadth of content.”

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GlobalStar and OneWurld, a division of Snowstorm Technologies (UK) Ltd. announce strategic global partnership

by Mark van Iersel | Feb 25, 2021 | GlobalStar News | 0 comments

The new travel landscape presents innovation opportunities. The announcement of a strategic global partnership between leading international travel management network GlobalStar and travel technology specialist Snowstorm Technologies will enable both organizations to maximize these opportunities.

The partnership includes the launch of Snowstorm’s OneWurld Desktop product, bringing together global distribution with leading edge technology, a huge breadth of content and the combined experience of two established management teams. The partnership is further consolidated by the introduction of a brand new hybrid hotel programme, Above & Beyond.

The OneWurld Desktop includes a SME focused Corporate Booking Tool which is the shared vision of key corporate agency and network executives from around the world headed by GlobalStar’s Executive Director of Information Technology and Supplier Relations, Gonҫalo Fernandes. “We saw an opportunity to create a corporate booking and management tool that was seamless and easy to use for travelers, travel bookers, approvers and agents via desktop or mobile device. An advanced yet simple platform that has all the functionality and comprehensive global content of far more complicated booking tools at a price that we believe will completely disrupt this segment” said Gonҫalo Fernandes.

Utilizing OneWurld’s leading edge technology, the Above & Beyond hotel program is focused on driving competitive rates to its bookers, as well as saving hotel partners money in distribution costs. The hybrid solution comes not just from its mix of leisure / corporate focus but also from the provision of GlobalStar’s G5L hotel rates alongside GlobalStar’s HotelStar including direct connect rates with the major hotel groups and independent chains worldwide.

Steve Hartwell, President & CEO of GlobalStar said “We have partnered with Snowstorm on their hotel booking platform for the last 3 years. As we have worked more closely together we have come to fully understand the value of OneWurld as a complete booking and management travel solution for all our network agency partners whether they offer corporate or leisure or a combination. Snowstorm has been a valuable partner in helping us foresee and navigate the new travel landscape. We are very pleased to be forging a shared vision that will help both companies to better compete, grow and flourish.”

“Covid-19 has provided the opportunity for both companies to step back from the day to day business operations and take a hard look at what travel agencies within the GlobalStar Network will need in the future and fast track the development of the OneWurld Desktop Solution to enable agents to succeed and thrive in the new marketplace. This is the perfect combination of leading edge technology and distribution with an unbeatable breadth of content” said Riaz Pisani, Chief Strategy Officer of OneWurld.

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Press Releases

" Above & Beyond will provide its extensive portfolio of preferred hotel rates to the One Global Community ”

" One Global has announced its first product partner - The Above & Beyond Hotel Programme, which will provide its extensive portfolio of preferred hotel rates at more than 45,000 hotels worldwide to the One Global TMC Community. "

"Above & Beyond launches hotel programme to Independent Hoteliers”

"Above & Beyond, a division of Snowstorm Technologies, announced today the launch of its revolutionary hotel programme to independent hotels around the globe. The extension of the programme is another clear indication of Snowstorm Technologies' commitment to revolutionize the way in which hotel content is distributed within the travel industry."

"Caesars Entertainment Partners with Snowstorm Technologies to launch Caesars(R) Travel Bundle”

"Caesars Entertainment is making it easier than ever for Caesars Rewards® members to score the best prices on vacations to Las Vegas with the Caesars Rewards® Travel Bundle. For the first time, guests can book an entire vacation, not just their resort accommodations, with one click at Caesars.com or one call to the company’s call centers, all while earning reward credits through Caesars Rewards – a first for a major domestic casino company."

"Lufthansa City Center and Above & Beyond Announce Global Hotel Partnership”

"Above & Beyond (AAB) today announced a strategic global hotel partnership with the world’s largest network of independent travel agency franchises, Lufthansa City Center (LCC), which becomes effective as of 1st January 2023."

"Snowstorm Technologies, New Preferred Supplier by Uniglobe Travel”

"Snowstorm Technologies, a leading global provider of powerful travel technologies, has been appointed by Uniglobe Travel, a leading travel management company for the global SME market, to deliver a bespoke Agent Desktop. Implementation of the desktop is already underway, with a global roll out planned."

"OneWurld announces the global launch of OnePromote”

"The breakthrough platform is the most advanced end to end customer engagement and marketing conversion platform in the travel market today, enabling the seamless distribution of supplier and agency generated content to the end customer via social media platforms."

"The vision of a fully integrated and seamless agency desktop”

"Umbrella is happy to announce the interface connection for travel profiles with Snowstorm Technologies. Their cutting edge collaborative NDC booking solution is currently being rolled out to over 60.000 agents."

"Snowstorm selects CTW as their preferred airline shopping platform”

"The CTW Platform is the most advanced airline shopping and pricing system on the market and the only system to offer two years of historical flights schedules and fares with up-to-the-minute accuracy, which is crucial for post-ticketing servicing."

"Lufthansa City Center and OneWurld announce preferred global partnership”

"The OneWurld and OnePromote products now unite this expertise with an incredible platform and an unbeatable range of products, whilst creating a unique collaboration between the customer and the agent, to ensure a smooth trip every time."

"GlobalStar Tech Partners Focus on Small & Medium Enterprise Travel”

"The partnership is further consolidated by the introduction of a new hybrid hotel program, Above & Beyond. With the OneWurld platform, the Above & Beyond hotel solution drives competitive rates to users, as well as saving hotel partners money in distribution costs."

"GlobalStar and OneWurld announce strategic global partnership”

"The announcement of a strategic global partnership between leading international travel management network GlobalStar and travel technology specialist Snowstorm Technologies will enable both organisations to maximise these opportunities."

"CTW chooses Snowstorm Technologies as preferred airfare retail platform partner”

"OneWurld agents can access a broad range of content with special rates across air, hotel, car, cruise, rail, bus, tours, and activities. The CTW Platform is an advanced airline shopping and pricing system offering two years of historical flight schedules and fares with up-to-the-minute accuracy."

"An exciting alliance combining distribution, technology, content and knowledge”

"As we have worked more closely together we have come to fully understand the value of OneWurld as a complete booking and management travel solution for all our network agency partners."

"The new travel landscape presents innovation opportunities”

"The partnership includes the launch of Snowstorm’s OneWurld Desktop product, bringing together global distribution with leading edge technology, a huge breadth of content and the combined experience of two established management teams."

"GlobalStar, Snowstorm Team Up on New Booking, Hybrid Hotel Offerings”

“GlobalStar Travel Management and travel technology specialist Snowstorm Technologies is kicking off with the launch of a new online booking and travel management platform, along with a hybrid hotel program.”

"Snowstorm Technologies to launch OneWurld agent desktop with GlobalStar alliance”

"Snowstorm said this will bring together global distribution with “leading edge technology”, a wide breadth of content and the “combined experience of two established management teams."

"Sure goes global with new tech”

"Sure Travel is rolling out Sure Travel Connect, a new cloud-based booking platform that gives members access to global partners and customers." Sure Travel already holds the SA right to the market-specific technology solution and is now negotiating with the developer. SnowStorm Technologies of Canada to expand it across Africa, says CEO, Vanya Lessing.

"Turns members into OTAs with a revolutionary tech”

"Developed in partnership with Vancouver-based software company Snowstorm Technologies and available to all agencies at no cost, ‘TC One’ will provide the members with a single, easy-to-use, highly-intuitive booking platform with live dynamic inventory."

"Sky Bird launches revolutionary Agent Desktop Solution across 20,000+ agencies”

Arvin Shah, Chairman and CEO of Sky Bird, said: “We are delighted with the new platform and see this as a game changer in the industry. We have worked closely with OneWurld over the last several months to provide our agents the opportunity to combine their knowledge with what we consider the most powerful Agent Desktop in the world, integrated with the most compressive content enabling them to not only survive, but thrive in the post Covid-19 environment”

A revolutionary travel tech company

We’re making history – with technology that will change the way we travel forever.

Life at Snowfall

Hi, we’re Snowfall

And we’re literally changing the way you see the world

“We want to make the world easier to access than ever before, using technology to empower everyone with the control to travel their way.”

Stefan cars, how by making travel simple.

Founded in Sweden in 2003, Snowfall has spent decades building the tech that runs airlines, rail networks and bus companies – so we know the challenges that travellers face. The travel industry struggles through an outdated, fragmented travel management ecosystem. And travellers suffer through it, too. We don’t think that’s good enough.

So we created Junction

Junction unites the fragmented ecosystem of disparate travel technologies – to make everything work in a single platform. It empowers travel companies to give their customers choice, control and confidence. It lets them book, manage and monitor every single aspect of a trip, in one place.

People working on Snowfall

Partners connected worldwide

Snowfall global offices

Passengers have used Snowfall technology

Our history

History in the making

Discover some of the most relevant facts about our company.

Snowfall's journey begins

Snowfall is founded in Uppsala, Sweden.

Snowfall takes on the airline industry

Snowfall builds custom tech for the airline industry - low fare calculators, real-time pricing platforms, mobile app gateways and onboard WiFi.

Snowfall enters ground transport

Snowfall introduces ticketless travel, passenger inventory systems, and crew and passenger apps for bus, rail and ferry.

Full ecosystem coverage

Snowfall delivers solutions across air and ground, as well as in the OTA and TMC segments on a global scale.

Junction is launched

Based on our extensive travel expertise, Snowfall releases Junction, a game-changing multimodal travel platform - uniting the fragmented travel ecosystem of content and services.

Horizons 2023 and onwards

Snowfall grows beyond 100 team members, representing 20+ nationalities in ten global offices.

A worldwide presence

Visit us in person, at your nearest global office.

LET'S GET

Contact us and let us take your company into the future of the travel industry.

‘Extreme’ solar storm triggers Northern Lights as far south as Florida Friday

Skies across the u.s. lit in a spectacular colorful glow not seen in years to decades as massive solar flares slammed into earth on friday, triggering "extreme" levels of geomagnetic activity. and the show may not be over for a while..

Strongest solar action in a decade impacting Earth right now

Aurora viewers will want to keep their eyes to the sky this weekend as a solar flare from the Sun is impacting Earth right now. Current forecasts indicate this storm will continue into Saturday morning across North America.

Skies across the U.S. were lit in a spectacular, colorful glow at levels not seen in years or decades as massive solar flares slammed into Earth on Friday.

Northern Light displays, typically relegated to states along the Canadian border during a typical geomagnetic storm, reached as far as the Gulf Coast Friday night, with pink, green and purple skies reported in Florida, Texas and Alabama. 

The SWPC says satellites observed conditions that reached level 5 on their 5-point scale of geomagnetic activity on Friday evening, noted as an "extreme" event and the first such storm to reach that level since October 2003.  While conditions have since drifted back to a level 4 storm Saturday morning, more geomagnetic activity is heading Earth's way over the weekend from additional solar flares, possibly lasting into early next week.

NOAA observed yet another massive X-class solar flare released from the Sun on Friday evening, rating it as X5.4 on their scale, among the strongest flares of recent activity. 

10 May 2024, Brandenburg, Sieversdorf: Light green and violet-reddish auroras glow in the night sky in the Oder-Spree district of East Brandenburg. The northern lights (aurora borealis) are produced by a cloud of electrically charged particles from a solar storm in the earth's atmosphere. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images)

A brilliant display of the Aurora Australis (aka the "Southern Lights") over New Zealand as a severe geomagnetic storm reaches Earth on May 10, 2024.  (@AndrewDickson13 via X)

Northern Lights from Missoula, Montana during an extreme geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024. (NWS Missoula)

Northern Lights from Seattle during an extreme geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024. (NWS Seattle)

Northern Lights from Great Falls, Montana during an extreme geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024. (NWS Great Falls, Montana)

Northern Lights from Mukilteo, Washington during an extreme geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024. (Scott Sistek)

10 May 2024, Baden-Württemberg, Freiburg: Northern lights appear over the Dreisamtal valley in the Black Forest near Freiburg. (Photo by Valentin Gensch/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Northern Lights from Shreveport, Louisiana during an extreme geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024. (NWS Shreveport)

FOX Weather Storm Tracker Mark Sudduth caught a stunning view of the aurora over South Carolina while in a plane. (Mark Sudduth)

View from Concord, N.C. (Jay Caceres)

Outside of the NWS office in Caribou, Maine. ( )

Northern lights or aurora borealis illuminate the night sky over a camper's tent north of San Francisco in Middletown, California on May 11, 2024. The most powerful solar storm in more than two decades struck Earth, triggering spectacular celestial light shows from Tasmania to Britain -- and threatening possible disruptions to satellites and power grids as it persists into the weekend. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images) ( )

Northern Lights from Reno, Nevada during an extreme geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024. (NWS Reno)

Northern Lights from Riverton, Wyoming during an extreme geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024. (NWS Riverton)

Northern Lights from Great Falls, Montana during an extreme geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024. ( )

Northern Lights from Hastings, Nebraska during an extreme geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024. (NWS Hastings)

Forecasters at the NWS office in Calera, AL saw the aurora and the space station. (@NWSBirmingham)

Clear skies led the Northern Lights to be visible in Texas and New Mexico (@NWSElPaso)

The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, glow on the horizon over Basingstoke in Hampshire. Picture date: Friday May 10, 2024. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images)

SEE MORE: EXTREME GEOMAGNETIC STORM TRIGGERS JAW-DROPPING AURORAS AROUND THE WORLD

Aside from brilliant and widespread displays of the aurora, geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations, the SWPC says. The last time Earth experienced a Level 5 geomagnetic event, there were power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa.

THE HISTORY OF EARTH'S GREATEST SOLAR STORMS

"We have notified all of our infrastructure operators that we coordinate with, such as satellite operators, communication folks, and of course, the power grid here in North America," SWPC coordinator Shawn Dahl said Friday. "So they are able and prepared to take mitigation efforts as much as possible throughout this event if it should unfold to the levels that we currently are anticipating."

SpaceX's Starlink service warned on its website Saturday morning that it was experiencing "degraded service," though it didn't give further details. Yet SpaceX head Elon Musk had earlier posted on X that the Starlink satellites were under a lot of pressure due to the geomagnetic storm and were still holding up.

Massive sunspot 17 times the size of Earth creating multiple flares

Two massive sunspots have recently merged and spit out at least three X-class (largest) and several M-class (second-largest) solar flares . According to NOAA, the explosive acceleration of charged and superheated plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection or CME, speeds through space and expands. 

The new sunspot is 17 times the diameter of the Earth.

"These two sunspot clusters are magnetically complex and much larger than Earth. Together they have been the source of frequent M-class flares (minor to moderate)," stated the Space Weather Prediction Center. "RGN 3664 (the combined sunspot region) continues to grow and increase in magnetic complexity and has evolved into a higher threat of increased solar flare risk."

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured these images of the solar flares — as seen in the bright flashes in the left image (May 8 flare) and the right image (May 7 flare). The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorized in orange.

(NASA/SDO / NOAA)

Amid the multiple solar flares, NOAA space weather forecasters have observed at least seven CMEs from the sun, with the first impacts arriving early Friday afternoon ET. Heightened solar conditions are expected to persist perhaps as long as Sunday.

"This is an unusual and potentially historic event," the SPWC stated.

WHAT IS A GEOMAGNETIC STORM?

Another sunspot also released strong CMEs this week and continues to be active. According to NOAA, the bulk of five CMEs will collide with Earth in a glancing blow as early as midday Friday through Sunday.

How flares can set off geomagnetic storms

"Flares are when the sun brightens, and we see the radiation, and that's kind of the muzzle flash," explained Professor Peter Becker of George Mason University in an earlier interview. "And then the cannon shot is the coronal mass ejection (CME) . So, we can see the flash, but then the coronal mass ejection can go off in some random direction in space, but we can tell when they're actually going to head towards Earth. And that gives us about 18 hours of warning, maybe 24 hours of warning before those particles get to Earth and start messing with Earth's magnetic field." 

SOLAR SUPERSTORM COULD ‘WIPE OUT THE INTERNET’ FOR WEEKS OR MONTHS, SCIENTIST SAYS

An illustration of Earth's magnetic field shielding our planet from solar particles.

(NASA/GSFC/SVS / NASA)

NOAA warns of a wide area blackout of high-frequency radio communications for hours. The geomagnetic storm could also cause widespread voltage irregularities in power systems, which trigger false alarms on security devices, cause drag on low earth orbit satellites preventing them from orienting and cause range errors and a loss-of-lock for GPS systems.

X-class solar flares are the largest explosions in the solar system. According to NASA, the biggest X-class flares can produce as much energy as 1 billion atomic bombs. M-class flares are the second-strongest flares, and they can cause minor radiation storms and harm astronauts.

Solar cycle peaking , making solar storms more plentiful

Tree rings and ice cores are evidence of much larger solar superstorms in the past. 

In 1859, the great Carrington Event, generally regarded as Earth's greatest solar storm in recent history, covered nearly the entire planet in aurora.  About 14,000 years ago, a solar flare, possibly hundreds of times stronger than the Carrington flare, impacted Earth. 

Northern lights visible from Europe

Friday's aurora was visible across much of Europe. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center classified the event as a G5, the highest level on its geomagnetic storm scale.  

NOAA forecasts the current 11-year solar cycle to peak sometime in 2024 or early 2025, and solar activity is likely to remain active for the next several months or even a few years. 

NOAA PREDICTS STRONGER PEAK OF SOLAR ACTIVITY IN 2024 THAN ORIGINALLY ANTICIPATED

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Solar storm heading to Earth could disrupt communications and bring northern lights to California

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A different kind of storm could complicate this weekend’s plans .

For the first time since January 2005, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Friday evening.

The category G4 watch from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center signals the possibility that a concentration of energy flaring from the sun could disturb our planet’s electromagnetic field once it reaches Earth.

A geomagnetic storm of this size could disrupt communications, like the 2003 event that caused blackouts in Sweden and damaged South Africa’s power grid .

More promisingly, super-charged collisions of solar energy into the gas of our atmosphere creates the dazzling phenomena of aurora borealis , or the northern lights. Typically confined to polar regions, the colorful display could be visible this weekend as far south as Northern California.

“We have a very rare event on our hands,” space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl of SWPC said during a news conference Friday morning.

Science & Medicine

After months of silence, Voyager 1 has returned NASA’s calls

The spacecraft launched in 1977 and is now 15 billion miles from Earth. It went silent in November. Scientists at JPL figured out how to get it talking again.

April 23, 2024

A geomagnetic storm happens when energy from solar wind — the high-speed current of atomic particles the sun is constantly flinging into space — is transferred into the electromagnetic field that surrounds Earth.

The winds of a Category 5 hurricane on our puny little planet can exceed 150 miles per hour. In contrast, solar wind averages about 870,000 miles per hour all day, every day according to NASA .

Earth’s electromagnetic field deflects the majority of these particles, save for those interactions in the polar areas that produce the northern lights. But unusually intense or concentrated eruptions of energy on the surface of the Sun can disrupt that equilibrium, causing geomagnetic storms like the one potentially headed our way.

On Wednesday morning, astronomers noted a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections — essentially, giant explosions of energy — emanating from a massive sunspot more than 15 times the diameter of Earth.

The Space Weather Prediction Center has observed seven coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, heading in Earth’s direction, said Mike Bettwy, operations chief at SWPC.

First G4 (Severe) geomagnetic since 2005 has been issued. The aurora tonight (5/10) /tomorrow morning (5/11) may become visible over much of the northern half of the country, & possibly as far south as Alabama to northern California. https://t.co/upPlNYuNev @NWSSWPC @NWS pic.twitter.com/JTHmXtRKOc — NOAA (@NOAA) May 10, 2024

“Based on the data we have, all seven of these are going to be spewing that energy toward us,” Bettwy said.

The energy in these various eruptions is expected to merge and reach the Earth’s magnetic field late Friday or early Saturday.

“Our level of confidence is high that we will have an arrival of these CMEs as early as this evening,” Dahl said. The precise time they’ll arrive is less certain.

SPWC will have more clear information once that solar energy reaches NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft , a satellite about 1 million miles from Earth.

Yet “even though that sounds like it’s far away . . . it doesn’t necessarily give us a ton of lead time,” Bettwy said. Given that solar wind is moving faster than the speed of sound, it will reach Earth only 20 to 45 minutes after passing that 1-million-mile marker in space.

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Scientists have previously warned that the strongest geomagnetic storms could wreak havoc on our power and communication systems. That is not what’s expected in this case.

Those of us here on Earth may experience power outages and minor internet or GPS glitches, Bettwy said.

“Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations,” NOAA said in a statement . “SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action.”

Watches for milder geomagnetic storms are fairly common. In March, a geomagnetic storm briefly reached G4 strength for a few hours .

That event was the third geomagnetic storm to reach G4 status during the current 11-year solar cycle , which began in 2019, according to the SWPC. At that time, the agency said the event posed no risk of adverse impacts to the public.

“What’s unique about what is potentially about to hit us is that it’s a much more significant event, in terms of what’s going to be hitting the atmosphere,” Bettwy said.

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Corinne Purtill is a science and medicine reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Her writing on science and human behavior has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Time Magazine, the BBC, Quartz and elsewhere. Before joining The Times, she worked as the senior London correspondent for GlobalPost (now PRI) and as a reporter and assignment editor at the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. She is a native of Southern California and a graduate of Stanford University.

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The huge solar storm is keeping power grid and satellite operators on edge

Geoff Brumfiel

Willem Marx

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of solar flares early Saturday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm. Solar Dynamics Observatory hide caption

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of solar flares early Saturday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm.

Planet Earth is getting rocked by the biggest solar storm in decades – and the potential effects have those people in charge of power grids, communications systems and satellites on edge.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm that has been visible as aurora across vast swathes of the Northern Hemisphere. So far though, NOAA has seen no reports of major damage.

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Photos: see the northern lights from rare, solar storm.

There has been some degradation and loss to communication systems that rely on high-frequency radio waves, NOAA told NPR, as well as some preliminary indications of irregularities in power systems.

"Simply put, the power grid operators have been busy since yesterday working to keep proper, regulated current flowing without disruption," said Shawn Dahl, service coordinator for the Boulder, Co.-based Space Weather Prediction Center at NOAA.

NOAA Issues First Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch Since 2005

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"Satellite operators are also busy monitoring spacecraft health due to the S1-S2 storm taking place along with the severe-extreme geomagnetic storm that continues even now," Dahl added, saying some GPS systems have struggled to lock locations and offered incorrect positions.

NOAA's GOES-16 satellite captured a flare erupting occurred around 2 p.m. EDT on May 9, 2024.

As NOAA had warned late Friday, the Earth has been experiencing a G5, or "Extreme," geomagnetic storm . It's the first G5 storm to hit the planet since 2003, when a similar event temporarily knocked out power in part of Sweden and damaged electrical transformers in South Africa.

The NOAA center predicted that this current storm could induce auroras visible as far south as Northern California and Alabama.

Extreme (G5) geomagnetic conditions have been observed! pic.twitter.com/qLsC8GbWus — NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 10, 2024

Around the world on social media, posters put up photos of bright auroras visible in Russia , Scandinavia , the United Kingdom and continental Europe . Some reported seeing the aurora as far south as Mallorca, Spain .

The source of the solar storm is a cluster of sunspots on the sun's surface that is 17 times the diameter of the Earth. The spots are filled with tangled magnetic fields that can act as slingshots, throwing huge quantities of charged particles towards our planet. These events, known as coronal mass ejections, become more common during the peak of the Sun's 11-year solar cycle.

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Usually, they miss the Earth, but this time, NOAA says several have headed directly toward our planet, and the agency predicted that several waves of flares will continue to slam into the Earth over the next few days.

While the storm has proven to be large, predicting the effects from such incidents can be difficult, Dahl said.

Shocking problems

The most disruptive solar storm ever recorded came in 1859. Known as the "Carrington Event," it generated shimmering auroras that were visible as far south as Mexico and Hawaii. It also fried telegraph systems throughout Europe and North America.

Stronger activity on the sun could bring more displays of the northern lights in 2024

While this geomagnetic storm will not be as strong, the world has grown more reliant on electronics and electrical systems. Depending on the orientation of the storm's magnetic field, it could induce unexpected electrical currents in long-distance power lines — those currents could cause safety systems to flip, triggering temporary power outages in some areas.

my cat just experienced the aurora borealis, one of the world's most radiant natural phenomena... and she doesn't care pic.twitter.com/Ee74FpWHFm — PJ (@kickthepj) May 10, 2024

The storm is also likely to disrupt the ionosphere, a section of Earth's atmosphere filled with charged particles. Some long-distance radio transmissions use the ionosphere to "bounce" signals around the globe, and those signals will likely be disrupted. The particles may also refract and otherwise scramble signals from the global positioning system, according to Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist with NOAA. Those effects can linger for a few days after the storm.

Like Dahl, Steenburgh said it's unclear just how bad the disruptions will be. While we are more dependent than ever on GPS, there are also more satellites in orbit. Moreover, the anomalies from the storm are constantly shifting through the ionosphere like ripples in a pool. "Outages, with any luck, should not be prolonged," Steenburgh said.

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The radiation from the storm could have other undesirable effects. At high altitudes, it could damage satellites, while at low altitudes, it's likely to increase atmospheric drag, causing some satellites to sink toward the Earth.

The changes to orbits wreak havoc, warns Tuija Pulkkinen, chair of the department of climate and space sciences at the University of Michigan. Since the last solar maximum, companies such as SpaceX have launched thousands of satellites into low Earth orbit. Those satellites will now see their orbits unexpectedly changed.

"There's a lot of companies that haven't seen these kind of space weather effects before," she says.

The International Space Station lies within Earth's magnetosphere, so its astronauts should be mostly protected, Steenburgh says.

In a statement, NASA said that astronauts would not take additional measures to protect themselves. "NASA completed a thorough analysis of recent space weather activity and determined it posed no risk to the crew aboard the International Space Station and no additional precautionary measures are needed," the agency said late Friday.

People visit St Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay to see the aurora borealis on Friday in Whitley Bay, England. Ian Forsyth/Getty Images hide caption

People visit St Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay to see the aurora borealis on Friday in Whitley Bay, England.

While this storm will undoubtedly keep satellite operators and utilities busy over the next few days, individuals don't really need to do much to get ready.

"As far as what the general public should be doing, hopefully they're not having to do anything," Dahl said. "Weather permitting, they may be visible again tonight." He advised that the largest problem could be a brief blackout, so keeping some flashlights and a radio handy might prove helpful.

I took these photos near Ranfurly in Central Otago, New Zealand. Anyone can use them please spread far and wide. :-) https://t.co/NUWpLiqY2S — Dr Andrew Dickson reform/ACC (@AndrewDickson13) May 10, 2024

And don't forget to go outside and look up, adds Steenburgh. This event's aurora is visible much further south than usual.

A faint aurora can be detected by a modern cell phone camera, he adds, so even if you can't see it with your eyes, try taking a photo of the sky.

The aurora "is really the gift from space weather," he says.

• space weather
• solar flares
• solar storm