The article below could not be more direct without causing panic. CNN has come forward to warn us about the solar activity that continues to escalate. It address the CME we had just experienced last weekend and how damaging it's effects can be.

The article is a bit short sighted. It only addressees the 11 and 22 year cycle most scientist are familiar with.

In my interviews with many astrophysicist and astronomers, it is believed we are in what many call a "Mega Cycle". This phenomenon goes way beyond the 11, 22, 1200 year cycle. It is more like thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years in between. I believe this is what is upon us now.

That aside, I am very pleased to see the main stream, especially CNN for picking this up. I have no doubt we will be hearing a great deal more on this one.

Reminder: I believe it is the "Sun" and it's effect on our magnetic field, that is the cause of all our weather phenomenon. This is where I get in trouble with many environmentalist. I would suggest the earth would see the current and escalating weather events if there were no humans on earth today. However, I will concede humans probably do contribute approximately 17% to 20%.

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Forget Y2K: Prepare For The Solar Maximum...09/02/99
By Robin Lloyd CNN Interactive Senior Writer

(CNN) -- A few days ago, a handful of satellites in space watched the sun spit up an unusually high-energy flux of X-rays followed by what could have been an Earth-menacing cloud of charged particles.

The solar flare fell into the most powerful category of electromagnetic radiation, and the burp that followed, called a coronal mass ejection, it had the potential to disrupt power grids on Earth and kill astronauts  Luckily, it was pointed the wrong way and ended up just glancing the planet. No troubles were reported.

But the event portends the upcoming "solar maximum" -- a fickle wave of even more energetic solar flares and ejections that could disrupt radio communications for pilots, blow out transformers and power grids and deliver lethal radiation doses to humans in space.

"We are certainly at the part of the sun's cycle where flares are popping off more frequently and affecting us more frequently," said David Hathaway, a solar physicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.

Solar maximums, about as predictable as a child's moods, occur about every 11 years. The next one will peak in mid-2000 and last for a year or two, Hathaway said.

Flares and ejections like the high-energy burst on Saturday are expected daily during the maximum. The question is, which ones will be aimed at Earth and which ones will pass by leaving the planet unperturbed? In the past few months, one or two ejections sped toward Earth but were too weak to cause any trouble.

The last solar maximums peaked in 1980 and 1990. The upcoming maximum could bring about far more damage and disruption at least in space because there simply is more stuff there to harm due to the recent boom in the commercial satellite industry.

NASA also has more satellites in orbit than ever before as it moves from big-budget missions to more frequent, smaller budget satellites and spacecraft with less ambitious objectives closer to Earth and the sun.

Mitch Battros
Producer - Earth Changes TV
http://www.earthchangesTV.com