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longship

(40,416 posts)

1. Well, then there's the one in 1859.

Reply to Baobab (Original post)

Wed May 25, 2016, 07:07 PM

May 2016

If something like that happened now we'd be in big poo-poo.

Solar storm of 1859

Telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, in some cases giving telegraph operators electric shocks. Telegraph pylons threw sparks. Some telegraph operators could continue to send and receive messages despite having disconnected their power supplies.

more at link above

Then, there was the great Quebec power failure.

March 1989 Geomagnetic Storm

A severe geomagnetic storm struck Earth on March 13, 1989. It occurred during solar cycle 22 and caused a nine-hour outage of Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system.

These things are nothing to be trifled with. We're talking a great part an entire hemisphere of Earth without power for many months. If it happens when it's winter where you live... Well, just consider that for a moment.

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Highlight:

Why Is This Fed Official So Worried About a Solar Storm? A regional risk expert published a grim [View all] Baobab May 2016 OP

Well, then there's the one in 1859. longship May 2016 #1

"affecting as many as 20 to 40 million Americans for a duration ranging from 16 days to two years" braddy May 2016 #2

It could be far worse than even that... Baobab May 2016 #3