# A Major Solar Storm Or CME Would Change Life As We Know It....



## OneEyedDiva (Jun 18, 2021)

...For a while anyway. A few years back I read that we had dodged a bullet as far as not feeling the effects of a CME with the intensity that was forecast. But the earth has experienced major CMEs in the past. What will happen when the next one hits and what happened in the past?
_"While invisible and harmless to anyone on the Earth's surface, the geomagnetic waves unleashed by solar storms can cripple power grids, jam radio communications, bathe airline crews in dangerous levels of radiation and knock critical satellites off kilter. The sun began a new 11-year cycle last year and as it reaches its peak in 2025 the specter of powerful space weather creating havoc for humans grows, threatening chaos in a world that has become ever more reliant on technology since the last big storms hit 17 years ago. A recent study suggested hardening the grid could lead to $27 billion worth of benefits to the U.S. power industry."
"The danger isn't hypothetical. In 2017, a solar storm caused ham radios to turn to static just as the Category 5 Hurricane Irma was ripping through the Caribbean. In 2015, solar storms knocked out global positioning systems in the U.S. Northeast, a particular concern as self-driving cars become a reality. Airline pilots are at greater risk of developing cataracts when solar storms hit. Female crew see higher rates of miscarriages.

In March 1989, a solar storm over Quebec caused a province-wide outage that lasted nine hours, according to Hydro-Quebec's website. A 2017 paper in the journal of the American Geophysical Union predicted blackouts caused by severe space weather could strike as much as 66% of the U.S. population, with economic losses reaching a potential $41.5 billion a day."_
Full article: https://phys.org/news/2021-05-solar-storms-threatening-life-earth.amp
How would you manage if we are unable to use our computers, watch T.V., light our homes, access our money and maybe even go food shopping and get gas?


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## Lara (Jun 18, 2021)

OneEyedDiva said:


> How would you manage if we are unable to use our computers, watch T.V., light our homes, access our money and maybe even go food shopping and get gas?


We wouldn't manage, especially if we had no access to food. It would likely be prophesy fullfilled and likely a sign that the apocalypse is here, I'm guessing.


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## asp3 (Jun 18, 2021)

I’ve read a couple of excellent science fiction stories with a solar storm as part of the plot.  One of them was from a “hard” science fiction author who is a scientist and consults other experts when trying to provide an accurate description of what might happen.  It was rather frightening because it represented what is possible.

There was the solar storm that happened in 1859 that caused serious damage to telegraph systems.


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## AnnieA (Jun 18, 2021)

It would, @OneEyedDiva .   A nationwide cyber attack, EMP ...anything that shut down utilities for an extended period of time would result in a breakdown of our social structure and catastrophic loss of life.  

Lights Out by Ted Koppel is a good non-fiction read about our grid.   Of all the post apocalyptic fiction I've read, Lucifer's Hammer probably paints the best picture of what life post grid would be like.


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## AnnieA (Jun 18, 2021)

asp3 said:


> I’ve read a couple of excellent science fiction stories with a solar storm as part of the plot.  One of them was from a “hard” science fiction author who is a scientist and consults other experts when trying to provide an accurate description of what might happen.  It was rather frightening because it represented what is possible.
> 
> There was the solar storm that happened in 1859 that caused serious damage to telegraph systems.


What's the series?  I love good PAW fiction!   Not the prepper hero kind where the good 'ole boys with beans, bullets and bandages survive and return to some weirdly romanticized 18th century homestead culture, but the realistic, gory stuff.


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## Becky1951 (Jun 18, 2021)

AnnieA said:


> What's the series?  I love good PAW fiction!   Not the prepper hero kind where the good 'ole boys with beans, bullets and bandages survive and return to some weirdly romanticized 18th century homestead culture, but the realistic, gory stuff.


I love PAW fiction also and feel the same about the stories that start with ex military guys having all that is needed to survive.   

I like the down to earth everyday citizen and families who are suddenly caught in this scenario and have to adapt and learn ways to survive. 

I like the homesteaders who garden and can and hunt also.


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## Murrmurr (Jun 18, 2021)

A section of society would feel helpless, but not all of society. Some of us are still resourceful, and some of us are extremely self-reliant. I don't see a doomsday scenario. Most of us will pull through.


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## AnnieA (Jun 18, 2021)

Murrmurr said:


> A section of society would feel helpless, but not all of society. Some of us are still resourceful, and some of us are extremely self-reliant. I don't see a doomsday scenario. Most of us will pull through.



What would bring about doomsday is an extended, widespread utilities shut-down.  Law enforcement could not keep up with the fight for limited resources, and many would abandon trying in order to take care of their families.   Military and aid organizations don't have nearly sufficient resources to provide relief for our millions upon millions in a timely manner.   Even for the self-reliant, a week's shortage of potable water would kill by a combination of disease and dehydration.


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## Murrmurr (Jun 18, 2021)

AnnieA said:


> What would bring about doomsday is an extended, widespread utilities shut-down.  Law enforcement could not keep up with the fight for limited resources, and many would abandon trying in order to take care of their families.   Military and aid organizations don't have nearly sufficient resources to provide relief for our millions upon millions in a timely manner.   Even for the self-reliant, a week's shortage of potable water would kill by a combination of disease and dehydration.


You can make water potable. You can make sea water potable. If there is an extended off-grid period, I see those in the know taking care of those who have never learned but are willing to learn, and those refusing to learn being among the first to die. I'm not saying it won't be a harsh reality.


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## Nathan (Jun 18, 2021)

OneEyedDiva said:


> A Major Solar Storm Or CME Would Change Life As We Know It....



Ever watch The Walking Dead?   In a very short time(hours or days) available groceries, gasoline and other essential goods would be gone, with no re-stocking of anything in the foreseeable future.     If you had water or food stored, you'd be looking at guarding that with lethal force.


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## Murrmurr (Jun 18, 2021)

Nathan said:


> Ever watch The Walking Dead?   In a very short time(hours or days) available groceries, gasoline and other essential goods would be gone, with no re-stocking of anything in the foreseeable future.     If you had water or food stored, you'd be looking at guarding that with lethal force.


Loved that show.
Good example. Without the zombie threat we'd be more mobile, but I can envision people forming little co-op groups and delegating tasks and authority and all that.


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## Pecos (Jun 18, 2021)

The sad truth is that we know how to harden systems against high energy electromagnetic impulses, but we don't because it is expensive. Most of our homes do not even have good lightning protection in place.

Near term profit continues to rule as it does in so many aspects of modern life.


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## ohioboy (Jun 18, 2021)

Lara said:


> We wouldn't manage, especially if we had no access to food..


One word: Timothy.


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## Don M. (Jun 18, 2021)

The more that our world and societies depend on "technology", the more likely that there will be a disaster...natural, or man made....that will turn everything upside down.   Our electrical grid, and anything related to communications are perhaps most as risk.  A major solar flare could; easily damage the satellites that control nearly all communications.  An EMP burst would overload many transformers, and could shut down the grid for weeks, or more.  

Can you imagine how many people would begin to go nuts if they lost cell phone service for more than a few hours????


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## jujube (Jun 18, 2021)

William R. Forstchen's novel  "One Second After" (and the two sequels) deals with an EMP incident that shuts down life as we know it.

I'm not sure that we'd do as well as they do in the books, though. Good reading, however.


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## asp3 (Jun 21, 2021)

AnnieA said:


> What's the series?  I love good PAW fiction!   Not the prepper hero kind where the good 'ole boys with beans, bullets and bandages survive and return to some weirdly romanticized 18th century homestead culture, but the realistic, gory stuff.



The one I remember is Sunstorm by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter.


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## OneEyedDiva (Jul 3, 2021)

Nathan said:


> Ever watch The Walking Dead?   In a very short time(hours or days) available groceries, gasoline and other essential goods would be gone, with no re-stocking of anything in the foreseeable future.     If you had water or food stored, you'd be looking at guarding that with lethal force.


I tried to watch Walking Dead; so many people I knew loved the show. Within the first 5 minutes of the pilot, I knew it wasn't for me.  But I've seen documentaries about what to expect if (or when) life as we know it changes drastically and it ain't pretty. Your last sentence says it all.


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## Nathan (Jul 4, 2021)

OneEyedDiva said:


> I tried to watch Walking Dead; so many people I knew loved the show. Within the first 5 minutes of the pilot, I knew it wasn't for me.  But I've seen documentaries about what to expect if (or when) life as we know it changes drastically and it ain't pretty. Your last sentence says it all.


The blood, guts and zombies weren't a "big" attraction for me, but I did like the Human drama.    Seasons 1 thru 6 were the best, later seasons got too far from the basic apocalypse drama.


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