Sunny with weather advisory

Good Morning Augusta. Remember, as of tonight, we're under a weather advisory.

This morning it is partly sunny. Highs in the lower 30s. Light and variable winds.  

Tonight it will be Cloudy. A chance of snow in the evening then snow, freezing rain or sleet likely after midnight. Snow and sleet accumulation of 2 to 4 inches. Ice accumulation of up to a tenth of an inch. Lows in the mid 20s. Light and variable winds becoming east around 10 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation 90 percent.

The readings outside right now, taken from my own instrumentation  are:

a relative humidity of 51% with a Dew Point of 9.6ºF.

The temperature is 26.3ºF with a wind chill of 21.8ºF.  

The wind velocity right now is between 4.9 mph and 6.9 mph out of the West Northwest.

Our Barometric pressure is 30.10 and rising. The weather graphic indicates sun. 

We had no measurable precipitation over the past 24 hours. 

Visibility is 10.0 miles with a great ceiling.  

With all of the news lately about solar flares, just what is a solar flare anyway? According to www.spaceweather.com, the definition of a solar flare is "an explosion on the Sun that happens when energy stored in twisted magnetic fields (usually above sunspots) ... is suddenly released." The explosions may, at times, be directed at the Earth. How does this impact the Earth and people?

Not only that, those of us who are increasingly reliant on technology might have a problem from flares.

If we survive the doom and gloom predicted by the Mayans (remember, 2012 in December) the notes below speak to expected trouble from the sun in 2013.

Emissions from the sun could cause various technologies to malfunction on the Earth.

Scientists have expressed concern about the impact on the Earth as two of the sun's activities converge in 2013. That year, NASA expects a peak in the sun's magnetic energy cycle to coincide with a peak in its 11-year cycle of solar flares. The sun's increased activity levels, which will push its temperature to more than 10,000 F, could affect Earth and the technology we use, as the Earth is hit with a huge amount of magnetic energy from the solar flares.

Satellite navigation technology uses satellites from space to send radio signals to the Earth. A receiving device on Earth uses those signals to figure out how far away the device is from the satellite. These satellite signals, considering that they come from such a long distance away, are weak. Not only that, they react to activity on the sun. Solar flares could make it difficult for the receivers on Earth to pick up these already weak signals. Your car's global positioning system uses such satellite navigation technology, as do emergency vehicles. Docking ships also use them. If your car's GPS cannot pick up a satellite signal, it will not be able to provide directions to you.

There could be power outages as power grids heat up beyond desired levels. Modern society depends on power to fuel various appliances. A loss of power means that those devices that don't have any backup power sources will not function.

Solar flares also have an effect on electronic devices, which tend to be impacted by magnetic energy from the flares. When hit with the magnetic energy, these sensitive devices are likely to malfunction. You could face a few days without access to your mobile phone, computer or other electronic devices.