New research suggests solar storms could become more disruptive within decades, affecting things from cell phones to airplanes and spacecraft. In BBC News, Judith Burns quotes space physicist Mike Lockwood was saying, "All the evidence suggests that the Sun will shortly exit from a grand solar maximum that has persisted since before the start of the space age.
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A near X-class solar flare that erupted on the sun on August 3rd has sent a powerful coronal mass ejection toward earth which has overtaken two previous CMEs and combined with them. Analysts at the GSFC Space Weather Lab believe that the combined triple-CME will reach earth around 6 AM US Pacific Time on August 5th, give or take a 7 hour window.
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Massive storms left at least twenty people dead in the United States and are now dumping snow on Scotland and are expected to spread into northern Europe today.

A tornado spread damage along a 23-mile path in Mississippi, while more than 20 inches of snow covered Minnesota. Snow closed down highways in South Dakota and Iowa, and heavy rain caused flooding in Missouri and Kansas. Missouri suffered flooding, and in Kansas a New York man drowned when his family car was swept off a bridge by flood waters. His wife and son survived.

The single storm dumped snow in the norther tier of states, and caused flooding and tornado-related damage farther south.
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