How a solar storm two years ago nearly caused a catastrophe on Earth
On July 23, 2012, the sun unleashed two massive clouds of plasma that barely missed a catastrophic encounter with the Earth’s atmosphere. These plasma clouds, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), comprised a solar storm thought to be the most powerful in at least 150 years.
“If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,” physicist Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado tells NASA.
Fortunately, the blast site of the CMEs was not directed at Earth. Had this event occurred a week earlier when the point of eruption was Earth-facing, a potentially disastrous outcome would have unfolded.
“I have come away from our recent studies more convinced than ever that Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did,” Baker tells NASA. “If the eruption had occurred only one week earlier, Earth would have been in the line of fire.”
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/07/23/how-a-solar-storm-nearly-destroyed-life-as-we-know-it-two-years-ago/
= new reply since forum marked as read
that we're "out of the woods" yet. Keeping an eye on the solar activity is something that has become routine for me since about 2010... Some days I wonder how many of these "bullets" we're gonna dodge.
http://solarimg.org/artis/
There was a lot of anxiety about what could happen. It really makes me wish I were more capable of "living off the land". 
Seen it once seen it a hundred times
