NASA / Allison Stancil-Ervin
The geomagnetic storms of May and October left farmers stunned. Their tractors began to “dance”, as if they were “possessed by demons”.
In May, Earth was hit by five ejections consecutive coronal mass measurements (CME) within two days.
Although the geomagnetic super-storms that these CMEs unleashed gave us a great light show, scattering beautiful lights, they also did something else that caught the unsuspecting farmers.
According to several reports, the storms we experienced in May and even October were strong enough to cause the tractors move by themselves.
In several regions of the USA, farmers reported that their tractors started to “dance” from one side to the other, counts. “It was as if the tractors had been possessed by demons“, says one of the farmers.
Of course, the most likely culprit of this strange behavior is that these super geomagnetic storms affected GPS signals all over the world. Tractors depend on these signals to guide themselves automatically in straight lines had some problems.
According to a spokesperson for tractor manufacturer John Deere, many farmers depend on their tractors’ GPS systems to meet their needs.
May was not the only time that one of these so-called “super storms” hit the Earth and caused problems with farmers’ tractors. When I October , there were similar reports.
The sun will now enter your solar maximumthe peak of its 11-year cycle, so the phenomenon is likely to repeat itselfsays . As more solar flares and CMEs are launched from the Sun, they are likely to reach Earth and trigger geomagnetic superstorms like this one again.
There is also the possibility that these ejections could only cause minor blackouts in GPS and radio signals — or escape us completelyif the face of the Sun from which the eruptions are ejected is not facing Earth.
In any case, these reports show how much solar climate can affect everyone’s lives — including farmers.
