Ion storm

• Most common variety of notable interstellar weather phenomena
• Also known as "magnetic storm", usually in older references (SGR Novel: The Valiant)
• Strong concentration of charged particles caught within internally self-sustaining magnetic field lines (TNG Novel: The Buried Age)
  • Often created as a result of extreme stellar activity (TOS: "The Galileo Seven"; DS9: "For the Uniform"; "The Emperor's New Cloak")
  • Can also be created by other highly-energetic occurrences within existing strong magnetic fields, such as warp core breaches (ENT Novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing)
  • Ion storms naturally dissipate over time as energy is expended, reducing strength of self-generated magnetic fields, but for powerful storm fronts this can take days if not weeks (TNG Novel: The Buried Age)
• Known for disrupting or damaging starship systems (VOY: "Dark Frontier")
  • Sufficiently powerful ion storms can cause hull damage or loss of hull integrity through electrical discharge and/or disruption of structural integrity systems (DS9: "Accession"; TOS: "Court Martial")
  • Powerful EM fields can cause overloads or malfunctions in shipboard electrical systems or computers (ENT: "Doctor's Orders"; TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")
  • Magnetic containment systems can be disrupted by high external magnetic fields, resulting in engine damage or containment failure (ENT: "Oasis")
• Can disrupt or block communications or sensors via signal distortion (DS9: "The Die is Cast"; Star Trek: Nemesis)
• Ion storms rated on incremental scale from 1 up to 10
  • Force 2 storms result in minor hull vibrations, no appreciable damage to starships with active structural integrity systems (TOS: "Court Martial")
  • Force 7 storms capable of posing severe risk to Constitution-class vessels (TOS: "Court Martial")
  • Force 8 storms capable of posing severe risk to Intrepid-class vessels (VOY: "Once Upon a Time")