Mass Ejections

Although coronal mass ejections sounds like one of those films that should come in brown paper bags and be carried by shifty looking men in raincoats, it's actually the latest thing that is going to end life on earth or more likely make our televisions flicker a bit.
Not just one but three solar flare eruptions are set to reach Earth from tomorrow and scientists are watching closely as the third was an x-flare, which the man with all the pens in his top pocket said was the most intense sort.
To make matters worse, scientists will have around half an hour's notice that the wave of charged particles is about to directly hit the Earth's magnetic shield.

Here comes the science bit: When the ejection is directed towards the Earth and reaches it as an interplanetary CME (ICME), the shock wave of the traveling mass of Solar Energetic Particles causes a geomagnetic storm that may disrupt the Earth's magnetosphere, compressing it on the day side and extending the night-side magnetic tail. When the magnetosphere reconnects on the nightside, it releases power on the order of terawatt scale, which is directed back toward the Earth's upper atmosphere.
This process can cause particularly strong auroras in large regions around Earth's magnetic poles.
Coronal mass ejections, along with solar flares of other origin, can disrupt radio transmissions and cause damage to satellites and electrical transmission line facilities, resulting in potentially massive and long-lasting power outages.
Humans in space or at high altitudes, for example, in airplanes, risk exposure to intense radiation.

So if your radio starts crackling or your lights flicker tonight and tomorrow, it's because of a coronal mass ejection. If you hear heavy breathing coming from that mac wearing neighbour it is probably another type of ejection we really shouldn't go into.