Space Weather?

On FEMA's preparedness website, www.ready.gov/natural-disasters, you'll find information about "typical" disasters like Tornadoes and Hurricanes and even some rare events like Volcanoes. But there is also a category for "Space Weather". What is that?

Our Sun has been very quiet for the past few decades but it has a history of extreme outbursts of solar flares. The strongest solar storm on record is the Carrington Event of 1859 which electrified telegraph lines, shocking technicians and setting their telegraph papers on fire. Northern Lights were visible as far south as Cuba and Hawaii. Another significant space weather event took place in 1989 which caused a power blackout in Canada that left six million people without electricity for nine hours. This flare also melted some power transformers in New Jersey.

More recently there was a flare-up in 1989 but NASA reports this was nowhere near the same scale as the Carrington event.

We have been very lucky in our digital age that there's been no massive solar storm. Imagine TVs and computers bursting into flame from power surges. The damage will be massive.

Solar Flare

You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are grey
-song

Today I'll let a photo do most of the talking. This incredible solar flare on June 7 was ranked as an M2.5, or medium-sized flare, in terms of energy. Remember that the Earth would fit inside a lowercase o in this picture and then imagine what a massive solar flare would be like.

Bottom Line

Civilization is more fragile than we know.

When the Sun Attacks

"There are only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe - only two - the sun in the heavens and the Associated Press down here." - Mark Twain

From Instapundit is yet another item to add to your list of TEOTWAWKI:

"Did you know a solar flare can make your toilet stop working?"

In a 132-page report from a NASA funded study, experts detail what might happen to our modern, high-tech society in the event of a “super solar flare.”

Ground currents induced during geomagnetic storms can actually melt the copper windings of transformers at the heart of many power distribution systems. Sprawling power lines act like antennas, picking up the currents and spreading the problem over a wide area. The most famous geomagnetic power outage happened during a space storm in March 1989 when six million people in Quebec lost power for 9 hours.

In 1859 the largest know solar flare triggered an explosion along electrified telegraph lines, shocking technicians and setting their telegraph papers on fire. If that same massive flare occurred today,

Power outages would be accompanied by radio blackouts and satellite malfunctions; telecommunications, GPS navigation, banking and finance, and transportation would all be affected. ... The total economic impact in the first year alone could reach $2 trillion, some 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina

Bottom Line

It's a good idea to have your computer, TV and any expensive electronics connected to a circuit breaker. This may protect them from power surges and nearby lightning strikes. But don't count on the breakers saving you from a monster solar flare; they will probably melt.