"Space weather" is actually a thing. It doesn't really have anything to do with clouds, though. Most of the influence on the extreme upper atmosphere comes from

"Space weather" is actually a thing. It doesn't really have anything to do with clouds, though. Most of the influence on the extreme upper atmosphere comes from solar phenomena, and their interactions with the earth's magnetic field. Solar flares and other similar events happen all the time. They're not really noticeable at ground level, because they don't appreciably affect the sun's visible brightness, and the density of matter involved is tiny compared to the atmosphere at ground level. But at the heights where satellites orbit -- where the atmosphere is already extremely tenuous -- solar and geomagnetic phenomena can have a huge relative effect.