If a giant solar flare hit the Earth, it could knock out the entire power grid, meaning no more new Taylor Swift singles, no more televised presidential debates, and no more Facebook photos of babies.

The USA government has long come up with plans on how to prepare for and face known natural disasters like cyclones, earthquakes, wild forest fires and droughts. It will also work to train emergency management on space weather events, increase worldwide collaboration and publish more information about space weather in transportation reports.

CMEs are more lethal as they spew out solar plasma through space at millions of miles per hour and once they hit Earth, they result in intense geomagnetic storms which have the potential of disrupting power grids, satellite navigation and radio communications temporarily.

Solar flares, coronal mass ejections and space weather can cause all kinds of trouble on power grids and infrastructure, and now the US government is developing a plan to respond and address those concerns.

The Met Office have said: "Space weather influences the technology that we rely on".

The government has already taken steps to mitigate the unwanted effects of space weather events.

We take the nation's power grid for granted. "Efforts will facilitate the integration of space-weather considerations into planning and decision-making at all levels, ensuring that the United States is appropriately prepared for and resilient to future space-weather events". It proposes establishing and updating benchmarks and standards to assess and measure threat, replace and upgrade systems - such as satellite assets in space and technologies on ground - used for forecasting and monitoring space weather.

The White House has stepped up contingency plans should the event occur, one study argues that it could cost their fragile economy up to $2.6 trillion.

Early warning and forecast capabilities are vital because in the event of a powerful solar flare or CME directed at the Earth, responders will have only about 15 minutes warning before the flare hits.