If you haven't heard of a solar tsunami before it's something you should not only become familiar with - but also begin preparing for.
A group of Dunedin scientists is already stepping up New Zealand's defence for when one happens.
We see the sun every day but what most of us don't realise is it's currently moving into a phase of high activity. During this time it produces more solar flares, as well as solar tsunamis.
"Solar flares are the biggest explosion in the solar system inside the atmosphere. They throw billions of tonnes of material out into space and that's a solar tsunami," explained Professor Craig Rodger, from the Otago University physics department.
There's roughly a 25 percent chance of an extreme event reaching Earth in the next 50 years.
"That's pretty high, much higher than us winning Lotto even in 50 years," Prof Rodger warned.
It could cause an electrical blackout which is why he will travel to the Chatham Islands as part of a team installing a magnetometer.
"We need to better understand how magnetic fields vary across the country," he told Newshub.
"We put a magnetic instrument up in Awarua near Invercargill, one in King Country, now we're putting one in the Chathams. That will give us good north, south, east, west coverage."
Unlike other natural disasters, we will know when a solar tsunami is coming. It takes 12 hours to reach Earth from the sun.
"If it's a very very big event, you could imagine the safest thing to do would be to turn the power grid off for a day or two and then we'd turn it back on - we'd have a power grid," Prof Rodger said.
A previous solar tsunami has proven planning is key.
"The Carrington event was the largest solar storm ever recorded in history in 1859, it affected electrical infrastructure everywhere around the world including New Zealand," warned Otago Museum science engagement co-ordinator Toni Hoeta.
There wasn't a lot of electricity back then but today the world relies on it. It's worth stopping at this point to think about the number of electrical devices you rely upon as do hospitals, schools, businesses, laptops and phones.
"It can even affect GPS so imagine you're in the sky on an aeroplane and the GPS goes out of whack," Hoeta said.
That being said, work is already underway to prepare for it.
"The good thing is that we're doing science with Transpower to prepare for this eventuality so we can mitigate and have contingency plans so it won't be as bad for New Zealand," Prof Rodger said.
"Don't prepare for it in the sense the world is ending, just know we might have limited power for a certain amount of time," added Hoeta.
So best keep those batteries to hand.
