Preparedness Notes for Thursday – September 07, 2017

Today is the birthday of Dr. Ludwig Vorgrimler (born 1912 in Freiburg, Germany; died 1983). Vorgrimler was the designer of the Spanish CETME rifle, from which sprang a plethora of roller-lock descendants from HK, including the G3, HK21, and MP5. His bolt design was also copied by the Swiss for their excellent PE57 and SIG 510 rifles. (Although the Swiss felt obliged to mount a “beer keg” charging handle on the right side of the receiver, for the sake of familiarity to Schmidt-Rubin shooters.)

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Solar Flare

Sunspot AR2673 unleashed a major X9.3-class solar flare (the strongest solar flare in more than a decade.) The X-rays and UV radiation created a strong radio blackout over Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. But yesterdays CME didn’t have a significant impact on Earth’s magnetic field. However, another CME is on the way and is more potent. Strong G3-class geomagnetic storms are possible. If you have Faraday protection for your sensitive electronics, you may want to store them starting September 8th before the CME hits Earth.