Yaaaaawwwwwn. X1.6. Bah. I remember 3 X-class flares (all stronger than 1.6) hitting the Earth within 72 hours back in '89. Considerable thermal expansion of the atmosphere and some interesting ionospheric effects but mess up power grids? No.

Space Weather News for Sept. 10, 2014
http://spaceweather.com

X-FLARE: Active sunspot AR2158 erupted on Sept. 10th, producing a strong X1.6-class solar flare. Because the sunspot is directly facing Earth, this is a geoeffective event. HF radio blackouts and other communications disturbances have already been observed on the day-lit side of Earth. Stay tuned to http://spaceweather.com for more information and updates about the possibility of an Earth-directed CME and geomagnetic storms in the days ahead.

DON'T MISS THE STORM: Aurora alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

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