Last night, as the UK was plagued by extensive power disruptions, a massive flash of light was witnessed above regions of south Wales on Halloween.
Discover our latest podcast
On Sunday evening, soon after 18h, dash cam footage showed an enormous burst of mysterious blue light over areas of Newport.
The solar flare left the Welsh residents dumbfounded, as they wondered what it could possibly be?
X1-class Solar Flare
A violent sun storm, known as an X1-class solar flare, was predicted earlier this week by space researchers. These are the most powerful forms of solar flares, which are tremendous blasts of energy in the form of radiations.
As a result of the flash, power outages were reported in sections of Cardiff, Newport, Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire, and across south Wales and south-west England.
A spokesperson for Western Power said the power cut was due to:
An issue with the National Grid and they are investigating.
Even though these can't penetrate within the Earth’s atmosphere and target humans, it can definitely cause the start of a massive power cut all around the world.
According to the European Space Agency the flares can 'trigger radio blackouts around the whole world.'
The solar flares on Sunday were so strong that the northern lights could be observed as far away as Scotland. A National Grid spokesperson said:
Severe weather caused minor damage to our Whitson substation in south Wales yesterday evening. No domestic power supplies were directly affected and the National Grid network is operating as normal with no ongoing issues.
Halloween turned real
Don’t you think the blue lights and the load-shedding, sets the perfect backdrop for Halloween?
Some people said their lights just flickered on and off, but others reported longer outages, with street lights remaining down for a time.
In the past, such incidents have kept astronomers questioning if there is a correlation between solar flares and the presence of other life forms in the solar system.
Investigation is till on to find out if it was the doing of miscreants, or if Wales is actually facing a graver power circuit issue.