Why didn’t data center operators notice the 2024 solar storms?

Through 2024 and 2025, the Sun is in “solar maximum” — a high point in the ebb and flow of the star’s magnetic activity during its 11-year solar cycle. Around these highs, astronomers observe more sunspots on its surface and more frequent and stronger solar events, including coronal mass ejections (CMEs). CMEs threaten to disrupt not only satellite services but also the Earth’s terrestrial power grid infrastructure and, in turn, data centers.

October 10 was the second time in 2024 that a CME reached Earth, producing the usual results: aurorae, radio disruption and mainstream press coverage. Earlier in 2024, a CME in May was even more powerful. This event was the most intense to reach Earth in more than 20 years, since 2003, when a solar storm permanently damaged more than a dozen high-voltage transformers in South Africa, as well as causing localized power outages in Sweden.