How a solar storm two years ago nearly caused a catastrophe on Earth

WaPo ^ | July 23 at 3:48 pm | Jason Samenow

[BenLurkin]

On July 23, 2012, the sun unleashed two massive clouds of plasma that barely missed a catastrophic encounter with the Earth’s atmosphere. These plasma clouds, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), comprised a solar storm thought to be the most powerful in at least 150 years.

“If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,” physicist Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado tells NASA.

...

Analysts believe that a direct hit … could cause widespread power blackouts, disabling everything that plugs into a wall socket. Most people wouldn’t even be able to flush their toilet because urban water supplies largely rely on electric pumps.

. . .

According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences, the total economic impact could exceed $2 trillion or 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina. Multi-ton transformers damaged by such a storm might take years to repair.

CWG’s Steve Tracton put it this way in his frightening overview of the risks of a severe solar storm: “The consequences could be devastating for commerce, transportation, agriculture and food stocks, fuel and water supplies, human health and medical facilities, national security, and daily life in general.”

[Georgia Girl 2]

Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. A miss is as good as a mile.

[dware]

There does not exist a “reservoir” of horses

Sure there are. And I know where to find a whole bunch of them right close to me. There are a number of areas here in the west that still have wild horses running free. We have a pretty decent # of them (100+) right up the road from where I live, about 20 miles from me, in a local wilderness area.

There are other areas as well. The BLM thins the herds every couple of years. Left unchecked, the populations would actually grow pretty fast, as there is plenty of food for them where they roam. Allegedly, the wild horse population here where I am is descended from the local natives who let their horses loose after losing battles, being pushed out of their territory, etc.

[cripplecreek]

I think the best thing we could do it break up our power grid in to much smaller pieces. It wouldn’t prevent them from going down but it would be much easier getting things back up and running.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

One additional note you forgot;

Baen Books has a free library where one can download 1632 in any e-Book format for FREE. Dozens, nay hundreds, of other titles are also available for zilch.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Stock up one gallon of water per person, per day — for however many days it will take for water service to be restored.

And if you have a town sewer service, call a plumber soon and get a backflow prevention valve installed asap. If power goes out, no one on the line can flush. And where do you suppose all the effluent that WAS headed for the sewage treatment facility will be headed? Into your bathroom, shower, bathtub, kitchen sink an toilet. Not a good scenario for starting out on your quest to survive a SHTF situation.

[tanknetter]

Well, I can’t cover everything in one post, y’know?

;-)

Anyway, the best tech development story in the 1632 series, IMHO, is how they came up with a working alternator for downtime manufactured radios ...

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I started it last Summer but put it down for some unknown reason. I’ll have to get back in to it.

[Sergio]

Thanks for the review Tank, I will look this series up.

[theBuckwheat]

Lightning is similar but not the same in critical ways, the primary one being the frequency spectrum. Lightning is something like 100 KHz to 1 MHz, while EMP is something like 100 MHz. This means that shorter wires can act as antennas and that voltage can be induced inside shield with smaller holes.

One example that use is that we have thousands of broadcast, 2-way and cell towers in the US. A few get direct lightning strikes each day. Some have equipment failure as a result. A lot do not.

[wku man]

Ain't that the truth. I was looking at a group of hipsters/hippies earlier today in downtown Boise. While they probably have admirable gardening skills, I doubt very seriously they'd survive the first wave of civil unrest...they'd either shrivel up and turn to dust, or be killed outright, standing slack jawed and stupid while the world turned to shi'ite around them.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[laplata]

Good idea. From what I understand, to harden the grid would cost about $1 Billion.

[laplata]

Interesting. Thanks.

[cripplecreek]

I live in a tiny town. When the power goes out here we all end up out in the street chatting, checking on elderly neighbors etc.

[steve86]

There does not exist a “reservoir” of horses, esp. those of the “draft” breeds; IATW, ditto in re tillage, seeding and harvesting machinery suitable for live horse power.

True about lack of suitable horses and most people nowadays don't even know the vocabulary you're using like "tillage".

[steve86]

There are a number of areas here in the west that still have wild horses running free.

Yes, and most of them are 100% useless for what we're discussing.

[dware]

Yes, and most of them are 100% useless for what we're discussing

The Mustangs out here are rounded up and used on farms and ranches on a regular basis. The inmates over in Canon City have a program where they break them, and then they get adopted out. Beautiful horses, really.

[laplata]

You bet! As it should be.

Can you imagine Manhattan on the second day of no power?

[cripplecreek]

My neighbor brought me a fresh venison steak off his grill last night. He said most of them were packaged up with two steaks for he and his wife but he ended up with an odd one so he cooked it up and brought it over.

Its how we roll in these parts.

[laplata]

You bet. That’s what I’m used to.

There is more of that than most people realize.

[cripplecreek]

They talk about it as southern hospitality but its really flyover hospitality that can be found pretty much anywhere a few miles off the interstate.