Stanford pair helping predict solar storms

Life as a forecaster is not easy. Just ask National Weather Service forecasters who misjudged how a recent winter storm would impact the Big Apple. Now imagine trying to predict weather activity on a burning sphere 1.3 million times larger than Earth and 93 million miles away. That is the task of space weather forecasters, who watch the sun carefully for solar flare activity, knowing it can garble radio communications, cook satellites and shut off the lights for millions.