The Tempest

Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada (6 September 2017), showing smoke from rampant wild fires. Wildfires are also devastating the western United States. Image Source: Harman/Weather Network.

There are catastrophic weather headlines: Irma, the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean's recorded history, made landfall last night on 6 August 2017. The storm is so strong it is appearing on seismometers used to measure earthquakes. It looks like Irma will hit Florida, and move up North America's east coast, through the Carolinas. While Texas still recovers from Hurricane Harvey, there is another hurricane forming behind Irma, Jose - and yet another in the Gulf, Katia.

Live footage as Hurricane Irma destroys Maho Beach Cam in St Maarten 9/6/2017 (6 September 2017). The full video is below. Video Source: Youtube.

Hurricane Irma AFTERMATH!! (Anguilla/St.Maarten/St.Martin) (6 September 2017). Video Source: Youtube.

OMG WOW Serious!! NO JOKE Hurricane IRMA Wind Speeds 180 mph Destroys Everything In Its Path (6 September 2016). Video Source: Youtube.

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have produced a flurry of Internet conspiracy theorizing about weather manipulation. Below, you can see one of the images the trolls are discussing. This screenshot of a patent for a 'hurricane and tornado control device' is from this 2003 US application; other patents by this author, Andrew Waxmanski, are here. My impression is that Waxmanski is trying to invent devices which would make hurricanes less dangerous, rather than this patent application being a smoking gun for the HAARP/chemtrails/geomanipulation crowd, who claim climate change is due to scientific interference, not industrial pollution. I make no further comment other than to say that these weather events have sparked a lot of speculation and apocalyptic predictions about the end of times, the rapture, the 'Event,' and so on. These kinds of responses are as old as time, and to be expected when people are upset by trauma in their environment.

2003 Patent Application in the United States. Click to enlarge. Image Source: eventchronicle.

On 6 August 2017 at 8:02 a.m. EDT (1202 GMT), after an X 2.2 flare, the sun released an X 9.3 class solar flare with coronal mass ejection; X is the strongest class of solar flare and this flare was the strongest in a decade, now heading for earth. There is Internet chatter that the X 9.3 was followed by an unbelievable X 10.3 class solar flare, which could destroy electronic devices and systems. For updates on whether electronics may be affected when this space weather reaches earth on 8 September 2017, follow Space Weather Live on Twitter.

The X9.3 solar flare launched an earth-directed CME. Impact expected early on Friday 8 September.

More: https://t.co/uEjfSG6UF6 pic.twitter.com/6fm8lqEjhi

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) September 6, 2017

Minor R1 radio blackout in progress (≥M1 - current: M1.14) #flare
Follow live on https://t.co/3Xxrvc3cpA pic.twitter.com/ISb1a0QyqM

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) September 6, 2017

The vloggers may have confused it with the X 9.3, about which you can see details here. The vloggers currently discussing the X 10+ flare appear to be relying on Solar Dynamics Observatory data. On 6 September 2017, NASA reported only two solar flares, not three, an X 2.2 and an X 9.3; this was confirmed at Space Weather Live. It appears there is a discrepancy in interpretation of data: the X 9.3 may have peaked at X 10.4. See data here. For the sake of comparison, the biggest solar flare ever recorded was an X 28 flare on 4 November 2003, which was not facing earth.

X9.3 or...? GOES-13 peaked at X10.4! ;-)https://t.co/ivV3esSW2c

ftp://ftp.swpc.noaa.gov/pub/lists/xray/20170906_Gs_xr_1m.txt

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) September 7, 2017

There will likely be auroras quite far south in northern latitudes over the next couple of days; you can see information on the northern lights here, here, and here.

X Class 10 Solar Flare Showing On STEREO A Earth Facing (6 September 2017). Video Source: Youtube.

Click to enlarge. NASA's gif of two solar flares: X 2.2 and X 9.3 on 6 September 2017. Image Source: NASA.

Diagram of the STEREO space satellites which observe the sun. Image Source: NASA.

All of this coincided with the Full Moon at 3:02 a.m. EDT (0702 GMT) on 6 September. On the Quebec-Labrador border in Canada, it went straight from summer to winter overnight on Labour Day weekend and began snowing; and San Francisco, California, USA reached its highest temperatures on record this week. Some argue that these conditions lead to global earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the deaths of sea mammals, but researchers won't confirm that. One Youtube channel constantly monitors and predicts earthquakes, here.

When we say the West is burning, this is what we mean:

Scores of huge fires ripping through tinder-dry forests, blanketing the US in smoke. pic.twitter.com/ovhshHFlH0

— Alex Steffen (@AlexSteffen) September 5, 2017