September 2, 1859 - an event in history, that could happen again.

[mosquito]

Imagine perhaps ... a week... or much more likely without power, probably longer with no internet.... it could easily happen!





September 2, 1859...
Campers in the Rocky Mountains wake up in the middle of the night, thinking that the glow they see is sunrise. No, it's the Northern Lights. People in Cuba read their morning paper by the red illumination of aurora borealis.
...
As the day unfolded, the gathering storm electrified telegraph lines, shocking technicians and setting their telegraph papers on fire. The "Victorian Internet" was knocked offline. Magnetometers around the world recorded strong disturbances in the planetary magnetic field for more than a week.

The cause of all this was an extraordinary solar flare witnessed the day before by British astronomer Richard Carrington. His sighting on Sept. 1, 1859, marked the discovery of solar flares and foreshadowed a new field of study: space weather. According to a NASA-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences, if a similar storm occurred today, it could cause a trillion dollars in damage to society's high-tech infrastructure and require years for complete recovery.


Some reading material....

http://spaceweather.com/

https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/X17/

https://www.space.com/12584-worst-so...s-history.html

https://www.space.com/7224-150-years...lar-storm.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/n...event-science/

https://science.nasa.gov/science-new...arringtonflare

Potential for bigger?
https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=55580

2012 .... the day the storm missed... thankfully! A couple of the tabloid news had titles like "Solar flare nearly destroyed Earth 2 years ago: NASA" .... destroyed .... a trillion dollars in damage...that would be true.... catastrophe BIG yep!
https://science.nasa.gov/science-new...jul_superstorm

and a few years later
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/n...space-science/

The 2017 article had an interesting couple lines....
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...ade-180964794/
"In fact, solar activity has diminished so much in recent decades that some researchers believe we are soon heading into a “Little Ice Age” event similar to the event that led to globally-cooler temperatures during the late 1700s and early 1800s. "


Those things that make you go ...huh? Wonder what a wind turbine would be like in a solar storm.... but hey.... a few billion on wind turbines ..... that right now are producing ... 237Mw .... less than 2% of Ontario's power.... and Niagara Falls (Beck 1 & 2) ... 1,400+ for perspective... I digress.... sorry.
http://live.gridwatch.ca/home-page.html

..... I'm sure the gov't etc have a plan..... by now....
Canada's space agency is studying whether a big solar storm could send us back to the Stone Age
https://nationalpost.com/news/politi...-the-stone-age
Systems aren’t necessarily easy to back up. In North America, Langlois said, it can take six months to produce transformers used in power grids. If multiple transformers are affected by a solar storm and stop working, there’d be some tough decisions. “Who gets the first one? Canadians are going to freeze to death if they don’t get heat,” he said. It’s not necessarily easy to transport them, either — they’re the size of houses.

An intense solar storm could also affect satellites and knock out, whether temporarily or more permanently, the global positioning system. A lack of GPS, or a lapse in accuracy, would affect aircraft (both manned and unmanned) and, in the not-so-distant future, things like driverless cars. “We’re getting heavily dependent on space,” Langlois said.

... seems atleast they do..
https://nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/reso...lar-flares.cfm


For YOUR plan...
https://www.todayshomeowner.com/how-...-solar-storms/

Imagine the Torontonians wearing their tin foil hats...

[Bushmoose]

I've always been an advocate for being "prepared", but I've always found that most people look at you as some sort of whacko if I dare bring the subject up? Todays society is way beyond self preservation and readiness. It's expected that the government will look after us. The power grid will come back on? The food delivery trucks will still bring the supplies to the grocery stores? The police will still protect us? It's unfathomable to most everyone, that a real SHTF scenario could happen. To those, I can only say good luck.

[glen]

Because so many people would be looking for food the only way to survive would be undetected until they all died.

I thought climate change was going to kill us all.

[mosquito]

Because so many people would be looking for food the only way to survive would be undetected until they all died.

I thought climate change was going to kill us all.

I think if it isn't over a couple weeks (and not in winter) it won't be too bad...water will be the first big problem though but a few extra cans of food or a bag of potatoes and a propane stove would make alot of difference to some....

With all the electronics in cars I wonder if they would have an issue, I mean if the 1859 had sparks coming off polls....

oh and WHICH climate change though .....

Heat (Trudeau etc.)

or

Ice age (see Smithsonian article...)

[Sharon]

Imagine perhaps ... a week... or much more likely without power, probably longer with no internet.... it could easily happen!





September 2, 1859...
Campers in the Rocky Mountains wake up in the middle of the night, thinking that the glow they see is sunrise. No, it's the Northern Lights. People in Cuba read their morning paper by the red illumination of aurora borealis.
...
As the day unfolded, the gathering storm electrified telegraph lines, shocking technicians and setting their telegraph papers on fire. The "Victorian Internet" was knocked offline. Magnetometers around the world recorded strong disturbances in the planetary magnetic field for more than a week.

The cause of all this was an extraordinary solar flare witnessed the day before by British astronomer Richard Carrington. His sighting on Sept. 1, 1859, marked the discovery of solar flares and foreshadowed a new field of study: space weather. According to a NASA-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences, if a similar storm occurred today, it could cause a trillion dollars in damage to society's high-tech infrastructure and require years for complete recovery.


Some reading material....

http://spaceweather.com/

https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/X17/

https://www.space.com/12584-worst-so...s-history.html

https://www.space.com/7224-150-years...lar-storm.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/n...event-science/

https://science.nasa.gov/science-new...arringtonflare

Potential for bigger?
https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=55580

2012 .... the day the storm missed... thankfully! A couple of the tabloid news had titles like "Solar flare nearly destroyed Earth 2 years ago: NASA" .... destroyed .... a trillion dollars in damage...that would be true.... catastrophe BIG yep!
https://science.nasa.gov/science-new...jul_superstorm

and a few years later
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/n...space-science/

The 2017 article had an interesting couple lines....
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...ade-180964794/
"In fact, solar activity has diminished so much in recent decades that some researchers believe we are soon heading into a “Little Ice Age” event similar to the event that led to globally-cooler temperatures during the late 1700s and early 1800s. "


Those things that make you go ...huh? Wonder what a wind turbine would be like in a solar storm.... but hey.... a few billion on wind turbines ..... that right now are producing ... 237Mw .... less than 2% of Ontario's power.... and Niagara Falls (Beck 1 & 2) ... 1,400+ for perspective... I digress.... sorry.
http://live.gridwatch.ca/home-page.html

..... I'm sure the gov't etc have a plan..... by now....
Canada's space agency is studying whether a big solar storm could send us back to the Stone Age
https://nationalpost.com/news/politi...-the-stone-age
Systems aren’t necessarily easy to back up. In North America, Langlois said, it can take six months to produce transformers used in power grids. If multiple transformers are affected by a solar storm and stop working, there’d be some tough decisions. “Who gets the first one? Canadians are going to freeze to death if they don’t get heat,” he said. It’s not necessarily easy to transport them, either — they’re the size of houses.

An intense solar storm could also affect satellites and knock out, whether temporarily or more permanently, the global positioning system. A lack of GPS, or a lapse in accuracy, would affect aircraft (both manned and unmanned) and, in the not-so-distant future, things like driverless cars. “We’re getting heavily dependent on space,” Langlois said.

... seems atleast they do..
https://nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/reso...lar-flares.cfm


For YOUR plan...
https://www.todayshomeowner.com/how-...-solar-storms/

Imagine the Torontonians wearing their tin foil hats...

Never heard about that. Fascinating. Thanks.

[glen]

It seems that there are many games that are being played.

[glen]

Why isn’t there a tax to fight solar flares?

[glen]

Why isn’t there a tax to fight solar flares?

[73hunter]

I've always been an advocate for being "prepared", but I've always found that most people look at you as some sort of whacko if I dare bring the subject up? Todays society is way beyond self preservation and readiness. It's expected that the government will look after us. The power grid will come back on? The food delivery trucks will still bring the supplies to the grocery stores? The police will still protect us? It's unfathomable to most everyone, that a real SHTF scenario could happen. To those, I can only say good luck.

I believe in being prepared too. Not a “prepper” but I keep at least one full can of gas around and try to have extra drinking water....I don’t get too many weird looks, but I did have envious neighbours when I had my genny running and fridge cool.

[line052]

I am a prepper. If you don't understand what that is, or how the Carrington Event of 1859 would affect the North America (NA) today, then you should understand a grid down scenario.

What are the chances of Event 1% of 1% chance, however, if it does happen, virtually overnight NA would be in the 1800's. The impacts to a grid down scenario are well documented by Department of Home Land Security and the report issued in 2008 details the impacts on critical infrastructure, electrical grids, 3 day delivery supply chain. It started the prepper movement.

One only needs to look at how events are unfolding in anticipation of Hurricane Dorion and the stripping of shelves in Florida . Many do not understand the impacts of a grid down NA wide electrical outage, nor do they understand that it will 12-18 months before it will fixed. 31 major electrical Substations across NA will be out and the parts required to repair just these stations alone require 12 months to built in Southern Asia, let alone trying to ship those across the ocean, and transport across land for rebuilding.

If you think the government of USA or Canada will be setting up aid stations - think again, both armies don't have EMP hardened vehicles or planes to aid the civilian populations.

Further - if you read into the DHS scenario's the is a timeline to civil breakdown:

- 1-3 days - intial realization - no more food delivery
.....most only have 3-5 days of food on hand
- 1 week - food riots - civil breakdown - with no police or fire service - 85% of all vehicles will no longer function properly, if this event occurs during rush hour - all road systems will be clogged in cities
- 1 week hospital and back up power (if still works) will run out of fuel
- 3-7 all water and sewer functions cease - hi rise building start to empty as conditions become unliveable
- 2 weeks - peoples medications will run out, those dependant of medical devices will die - jails will release inmates - community militias will form - local regulators will form to protect communities
- 2 weeks - cities will empty and move to rural areas in search of food, water, shelter and safety from the mobs.
- 4 weeks - first deaths start to occur with dysentery, starvation, water and hygiene issues - the weak and children will start die off first
- 3-6 months 30% of population in NA will be dead
- 6-12 - 90% of NA population will be dead

One should not panic or see only doom and gloom, should one prepare for 1% of 1% chance - I don't know, however if don't, you be part of looters and mobs - if you do - you will be the target of the mobs. There is no easy solution, however - if you live in a city - your risk potential goes up exponentially . Even if you shelter in place with a years worth of food and water, it is only matter of time before your discovered and the mob comes for your resources.

Your best bet - is move to the country - learn to grow as much as you can - learn to become self sufficient as possible - seed save - learn about solar, water and wind power, animal husbandry, garden, preserving. Or get lots of guns and ammo - but odds are you wont last long that way.

Anyways my two cents.