UPDATED
Dec. 20, 2025
San Francisco in Darkness, Solar Radiation blamed
"Authorities have advised the public to remain indoors as 'significant' disruptions hamper traffic and public safety in the wake of a mass power outage that has left more than 130,000 without electricity. Large swaths of San Francisco were plunged into the dark ages thanks to a massive outage that knocked out power to 130,000 homes and businesses on Saturday, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said.
The power failure left large chunks of the northern part of the city completely in the dark, with the power failure moving from neighborhood to neighborhood, growing in size as it darkened the city. The mass outage began in the city's northwestern neighborhoods, such as Richmond and Presidio, before it expanded south, eventually throwing areas around Golden Gate Park into darkness as day turned to night.
About a third of the entire city was knocked out as a result of the power outage. Social media posts and local media reported mass closures of restaurants and shops and darkened street lights and Christmas decorations. The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said there were “significant transit disruptions” happening citywide and urged residents to avoid nonessential travel and treat down traffic signals as four-way stops.
Xcel’s power outage Friday could last through weekend (KDVR-TV Denver) thousands of people do have had their power restored today. KDVR-TV Denver Xcel’s power outage Friday could last through weekend. The city’s transportation agencies said they were bypassing some bus and train stations because of the power outages.
At least some of the blackouts were caused by a fire that broke out inside a PG&E substation at 8th and Mission streets, fire officials said at about 3:15 p.m. At about 4 p.m., PG&E said that it had stabilized the power grid and was not expecting additional customer outages. The company said it was unable to confirm if power would be restored by later Saturday.
Solar radiation or Russian espionage? PG&E did not immediately respond to AP requests for comment on the cause of the blackouts."
From Dec. 2, 2025
WXMAN GEOMAGNETIC STORMS PREDICTED
A new NOAA model of yesterday's X2-class solar flare and CME suggests that the CME might not miss Earth after all.
The storm cloud could graze our planet on Dec. 3rd. Moreover, the CME will scoop up a solar wind stream just ahead of it, adding heft to the potential impact. G2-class geomagnetic storms are possible on Dec. 3-4.
CARRINGTON WOULD BE IMPRESSED
On Sept. 1, 1859, English astronomer Richard Carrington sketched the most famous sunspot in history. While Carrington was watching an image of the sun projected on a screen, the sunspot produced a blinding X45-class solar flare, followed two days later by a planet-wide geomagnetic storm.
We call it the "Carrington Event."
How does today's giant sunspot compare to Carrington's? Here is the answer: The image above shows Carrington's drawing of the 1859 sunspot inserted to scale on a Dec. 2, 2025, image of sunspot complex 4294-4296. They're about the same size.
The surface area of Carrington's sunspot was ~2300 millionths of the solar disk. The surface area of 4294-4296 is 2080 millionths, about 90% as large. To be clear, 4294-4296 is actually two sunspots. Their close proximity makes them appear as a single behemoth--an unfair advantage vs. Carrington.
Even so, strong explosions are likely. The crowding of the two sunspots' magnetic canopies raises the odds of reconnection and an X-flare of their own. Any explosions today will be geoeffective.
WXMAN is providing periodic race reports, leading to the 2026 CABO 1000.
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