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

[Cameracutter]

Don’t forget your amateur radio.

[Gun Nut]

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...

"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."


If that means getting rid of telephone messaging and answering service, and we can get a living breathing human being instead of an answering service posing a million and one options - bring it on!!!!

You don't stop hunting because you grow old. You grow old because you stop hunting.
- Gun Nut

[MarkB]

"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."


If that means getting rid of telephone messaging and answering service, and we can get a living breathing human being instead of an answering service posing a million and one options - bring it on!!!!

You don't stop hunting because you grow old. You grow old because you stop hunting.
- Gun Nut

And for once, we could live life without facebook, whatsap, google, instagram, tik tok, apple, government tracking our every move and keyboard strike.

[MikePal]

And for once, we could live life without facebook, whatsap, google, instagram, tik tok, apple, government tracking our every move and keyboard strike.

My family and I did it back in 1998 with the ice storm. We lost Hydro for 28 days. Pole (with transformer) came down in the yard. No generator for back up power. It was like little house on the prairie but in January with a couple of feet of snow, covered with 2" of ice.

It took about a week just to clear our 800m lane of fallen trees so a crew could get back up in here...eventually

I was a good opportunity to learn what was needed for survival, what to keep on hand and what to plan for in the future. Winter puts a whole different slant on things let me tell you. No power on a rural property means NO water !!

[MarkB]

My family and I did it back in 1998 with the ice storm. We lost Hydro for 28 days. Pole (with transformer) came down in the yard. No generator for back up power. It was like little house on the prairie but in January with a couple of feet of snow, covered with 2" of ice.

It took about a week just to clear our 800m lane of fallen trees so a crew could get back up in here...eventually

I was a good opportunity to learn what was needed for survival, what to keep on hand and what to plan for in the future. Winter puts a whole different slant on things let me tell you. No power on a rural property means NO water !!

Just seriously wondering ... did you salvage ice and melt it to make water?

[MikePal]

Just seriously wondering ... did you salvage ice and melt it to make water?

Yes..and put chunks of it on top of the stuff in the freezer. We had farm animals then so buckets were set up by the fireplace to melt water down for them..the horses were the worse. We had to pull ice of the snow so they could get at the snow underneath until we were finally able to head to town and get the 45 gallons drums filled at the firehall. They also let us use their phone to contact family.

[JoePa]

Forming a group to strengthen your possibility of survival is a option but that cannot be without the possibility of disaster because depending on the make up of the group people will still look out for themselves rather than each other - this would only work if the group was made of family members who love each other and have a common bond - a group of strangers will eventually disintegrate when things fall apart - it would be difficult for gangs from the inner cities to travel out into the country side because gas will be unavailable very quickly - besides most of the people in the area where I live are well armed and know how to use their weapons - any people meaning to do harm would be quickly deal with - this is just another reason why an armed citizenry is vial

[greatwhite]

I miss the Ice storm of 1998 that was an awesome couple weeks of partying.Back then we didn't have a genny or wood stove. But my neighbour had a wood stove. My wife and kids moved into her sisters place and I told the wife that I and my brother in law had to guard the house for thieves so we stayed next door and partied for 2 weeks.

However I am all prepped now.

[mosquito]

Saw this in my news feeds...

Growing risk of once-in-a-century solar superstorm that could knock out internet, study says
https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/grow...says-1.5579689



Wonder who would be a good PM during a crisis like this.....

[impact]

Saw this in my news feeds...

Growing risk of once-in-a-century solar superstorm that could knock out internet, study says
https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/grow...says-1.5579689



Wonder who would be a good PM during a crisis like this.....

Is it not ironic that Elon Musk is launching Starlink satellites by the thousands.
He is not very concerned now, is he?
There will be an internet outage in the near future but it will be utilized to de-program and educate the population worldwide.