Solar storms not set to ‘plunge Earth into consecutive days of darkness’ in 2024: experts (AFP)

Experts say TikTok posts claiming that a solar storm will shroud the Earth in 17 days of darkness are misleading, pointing out that solar storms have never had this effect on the planet. While powerful solar storms can disrupt electricity grids, the experts say this disruption would only be temporary and unlikely to be widespread.

Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of California, Irvine, told AFP that countries in higher latitudes were more vulnerable to outages than those closer to the equator like Malaysia. “The worst-case solar storms can potentially affect power grids, satellite communication, and submarine cables,” she said.

Read the full AFP Malaysia article on Yahoo! News.