Hasn't come up in the PJM status dashboard, so the northeastern power grid isn't concerned about it. If they were, there would be a geomagnetic disturbance warning listed:
Last listed event was back in May:
103172 Warning
Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning
05.12.2021 08:50 PJM-RTO
A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued
for 08:50 on 05.12.2021
through 20:00 on 05.12.2021 .
A GMD warning of K-7 or greater is in effect for this period.
There was no "Alert", the next stage, so no action was required.
That May 12th event produced a minor press release.[1]
PJM has more material about this. See pages 25-67 of their training guide for contingencies.[2]
This goes into a lot of detail, from how solar wind influences transmission lines to where the sensors for this are to detailed graphs of transformer heating. Useful info for people who work in power stations. ("Noise: 20 dB jump. ‒ It is pretty loud. Myth: Vibrations can destroy a transformer. Vibration a function of GIC; not a big concern.")
Trouble is related to geography. Ground conductivity, related to iron deposits, matters. There are maps in that training guide. Only some lines are affected. Most problems can be avoided by changing power routing, which is what the PJM control center in Valley Forge PA does all day.
They consider events from G1 to G4 to have minor impact. And, yes, they know all about the Carrington Event and the 1989 event. Which, incidentally, damaged only one transformer but did cause some blackouts.
Before getting wound up about this, go read all that material.
For location to matter to that detail they'd need much more precision than "midday". Reasonably they'd need enough certainty to say to the exact hour since Washington and New York are only 1.5 hours offset from the average of each other.
I think it peaks around 4-5 pm UTC which translates to about noon to 1pm eastern time. G2 is pretty minimal but the WSA-Enlil graphic show some interesting effects when you move the scroll bar manually. The Lasco Coronagraph does too (see https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/electric-power-communi...)
The majority of this one is going to miss us to the north, there will be some cool auroras but M1.6 is not enough to really cause any tangible effects.
I wonder if modern power grids and communication systems have been built to be more resillient against large solar storms. There was one in 1989 that knocked out the Quebec power grid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm).
Last listed event was back in May:
There was no "Alert", the next stage, so no action was required.That May 12th event produced a minor press release.[1]
PJM has more material about this. See pages 25-67 of their training guide for contingencies.[2] This goes into a lot of detail, from how solar wind influences transmission lines to where the sensors for this are to detailed graphs of transformer heating. Useful info for people who work in power stations. ("Noise: 20 dB jump. ‒ It is pretty loud. Myth: Vibrations can destroy a transformer. Vibration a function of GIC; not a big concern.")
Trouble is related to geography. Ground conductivity, related to iron deposits, matters. There are maps in that training guide. Only some lines are affected. Most problems can be avoided by changing power routing, which is what the PJM control center in Valley Forge PA does all day.
They consider events from G1 to G4 to have minor impact. And, yes, they know all about the Carrington Event and the 1989 event. Which, incidentally, damaged only one transformer but did cause some blackouts.
Before getting wound up about this, go read all that material.
[1] https://insidelines.pjm.com/pjm-issues-geomagnetic-disturban...
[2] https://www.pjm.com/-/media/training/nerc-certifications/gen...