Inform the EM Community about space weather risks and hazards, and provide it in an informative and contextual context. Discuss primary solar storms of concern and potential impacts to our society and the technology we rely upon. Provide a background of historical space weather events from the past and how they could be majorly impactful today – potentially disruptive to our electric power grid, GPS accuracy, communications, satellites, and more. Inform about the recent May 2024 Extreme Storm, its dramatic effects, and how much work was done to mitigate that storm’s impacts even though is was no where close to the strength of what is known as historically possible. Relate this complex and little understood natural hazard to the EM Community and help them understand the Space Weather Prediction Center’s role and operational support in this realm.

The Audience Will Learn:

The audience will gain insight and clarity into space weather storms, what they mean for our society, and the threat they present in the worst case scenarios. Space weather has been a focus of attention by the federal government for the past 20 years and much progress has been made in planning for a catastrophic space weather storm that would pose a threat to our critical, technological infrastructure in today’s world – whether that be satellites in space, our navigation systems, communication methods, or the electric power grid. FEMA has stressed space weather over the past years and with continued efforts in planning and preparation – the hope is that hazard risk mitigation plans and efforts will succeed when Earth is finally confronted with a benchmark extreme storm of massive proportions. The implications of not being prepared are tremendous and the EM community should be familiar with the threats from the Sun.

Course Level: Beginner

About the Presenter

Mr. Shawn Dahl is a U.S. Air Force (USAF) retiree (22 years) where he spent most of his career in the field of meteorology and space weather. He retired from active duty in 2007 and held several meteorological forecasting positions with the USAF and the NWS until 2015, when he was hired as a physical scientist and senior space weather forecaster by the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).

He was selected as SWPC’s first Service Coordinator in August of 2023 and now leads Impact-based Decision Support Services (IDSS) issues, relations, and products. He also leads education/outreach initiatives and efforts and conducts many customer and partner interactions on behalf of SWPC – to include working with the press/media, broadcast meteorologists, and emergency management community.