What might a cannibal solar storm be? It is called a "Cannibal CME" in the Weather Network article. It results in a colourful aurora. The article is about a G3 geomagnetic storm overnight Thursday into Friday. You can read the scientific explanation HERE.
Why is it called a cannibal?
The CME sparked by Tuesday's solar flare could catch up to a few other CMEs out ahead of it, potentially combining into a “cannibal” CME that could produce a G3 geomagnetic storm, SpaceWeather.com said.
When the headline initially popped up and disappeared, I read it as a cannibal snowstorm. That's a different story altogether. The Donner Party is the story that comes up. This occurred in 1846 when a part of migrants travelled across the U.S. to California and got stuck in a snowstorm in the Sierra Nevada mountains. When food ran out, some members of the group reportedly resorted to cannibalism of those already dead.
Their journey started on July 31st. They reached the Sierra Foothills in October. Donner Lake is where camp was made. They endured an eight day continuous snowstorm. Over the winter, various groups left, and people remaining died of starvation/malnutrition. Some were rescued in February. At the end of the ordeal there were 42 dead and 47 survivors.
The story of cannibalism was well-known through the stories and accounts of the members of the rescue parties . In 2010 researchers looked for human bones as physical evidence of the story. But none were found. An interesting cautionary tale for those travelling to the West.
If only the journey were so straight-forward as this trail.
