08-17-2024 - On This Day in Insane History

On August 17, 2024 an exceptionally large solar storm erupted from the sun's surface, hurling a vast cloud of charged particles towards Earth at staggering speeds. Scientists at the National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center noted that this coronal mass ejection, or CME, was on scale not seen in over 50 years.
When the CME impacted our planet's magnetic field two days later, it triggered a powerful geomagnetic storm. Lights danced across the night skies in a brilliant aurora for watchful observers at high northern and southern latitudes. However, this was merely a beautiful prelude to the more serious consequences the flare event would bring.
As the charged particles from the solar storm penetrated deeper into the atmosphere, they began to interfere with the Earth's magnetic field in ways not previously anticipated. Compasses went haywire and pointed randomly, often changing direction rapidly. GPS signals became scrambled, leading navigational devices to wrongly calculate positions. Cell phones and electricity grids in certain mid-latitude areas experienced intermittent outages as well.
Perhaps most bizarrely of all, numerous pets and other animals across the globe began exhibiting odd behaviors. Dogs howled and growled at empty corners of rooms for hours on end. Zoo animals refused to eat and paced restlessly in their enclosures. Reports even came in of birds crashing into windows and other structures in a disoriented state.
While scientists were just beginning to untangle what effects the unprecedented solar storm had woven through the planet's systems, it was clear that August 17, 2024 had seen Mother Nature shrug off her routine and give us all a peculiar reminder of her vast powers. The question remained - what other surprises might still emerge from this day that nature decided to get a little weird?