Hi! "Space weather" has always been around, but until pretty recently, it really didn't impact us here on Earth. This is because the Earth's magnetic field acts like a protective shield against most of the energized plasma coming at us during a solar storm. In fact, the main impact on the Earth has historically been the Northern Lights, when protons and electrons from the Sun travel down the open magnetic field lines at the poles, see
http://www.windows.ucar.e...osphere/aurora.html.
However, 50 years ago we became a space-faring planet! And now that we have satellites in space, as well as satellite technology here on Earth, we are far more aware of the Sun's activity. This is because the solar storms can buffet the Earth's magnetic field in a way that sometimes leaves satellites outside the shield, and they can subsequently fail. Thus, a good coronal mass ejection at the Sun might knock out a satellite, and your cell phone won't work! Since such storms happen sporadically at the Sun, it is very much like weather here on Earth -- and I guess that is why "space weather" was the logical name. We hope that as we understand what drives the storms, we can get better at predicting it. Odds are, in the future there will be Space Weather reports so that you know whether today is a good day to fly to the moon or not!
cheers,
Sarah