How The Upcoming Solar Storm Will Affect The U.S.

Friday 13 is considered a very unlucky day by superstitious people, and sometimes they seem to be right.

For example, The Knights Templar felt the burn of a Friday 13, as they were all arrested on the same day: Friday, October 13, 1307, a day that spelled doom for their esoteric order. Getting back to more “modern times”, are you familiar with what happened in 1977, on Friday 13 of all days, in New York City? On July 13, 41 years ago, New York City was confronted with a dramatic blackout[1], which turned the city’s residents completely bonkers.

Click here to find out how to survive when the lights go out!

The blackout was caused by a malfunction of sorts at a nuclear plant in the vicinity, and it lasted for 48 hours give or take, causing incredible chaos, as some business owners set their own shops on fire to collect insurance money, not to mention nefarious characters engaging in looting and rioting all over the city. Can you imagine what a global-scale blackout would look like in 2018? Also, are you familiar with what is called in pedant circles “a Carrington event”[2]?

Allow me to elaborate: on September 1st, 1859, a massive solar storm hit Earth. What’s a solar storm, you asked?

To put it simply, the Sun projected a stream of white light, composed of plasma and electrons ( also known as a coronal mass ejection) in our general direction, a huge mass of energy, which by the way made for a mere sliver of the Sun’s total power. This coronal mass ejection, also known as a solar storm or a solar flare, was so powerful, that it overwhelmed our planet’s magnetic fields, which usually protect us from such unfortunate events. As a consequence of Earth’s magnetic fields failing to do their job, the electrons penetrated our “defenses” and hit telegraph wires, causing power surges and setting fire to papers in telegraph offices.

Also, any type of machinery that used electricity was rendered useless by the same phenomena (the power-surge thing). Fortunately, the biggest solar storm in known history did not occur in the electrical age, missing it with approximately 20 years. The thing is, back in 1859, there was no global electrical infrastructure to speak of, except telegraph lines. And the one that was in place was by no means complicated, hence that epic solar storm, also known as a Carrington event, did not seriously disrupt “life on Earth”. Except beautifully colored auroras lighting-up the night skies, so as people could read newspapers as easily as in daylight, the Carrington event was nothing more than a freak natural occurrence.

new EMP01

Significant coronal mass ejections or solar flares hitting Earth also caused problems on August 4, 1972 [3] and March 13, 1989[4], creating geomagnetic storms that knocked out telephone communication lines and/or melted power transformers in Quebec, Canada, and New Jersey, plunging millions of people into darkness for hours. Again, this happened due to power surges caused by solar flares (aurora-induced). In more recent times, the GPS (global positioning system) navigation signals were disrupted in December 2005[5], by another solar storm for approximately ten long minutes.

As an engineer for Bell Labs put it at the time:

I would not have wanted to be on a commercial airplane being guided in for a landing by GPS or on a ship being docked by GPS during that 10 minutes.

Keep in mind that these recent solar flares or whatchamacallit hitting the Earth was by no means comparable to the Carrington event in terms of sheer power. Truth be told, they were pretty much insignificant compared to the “mother of all coronal mass ejections” from 1859.

The next Carrington Event (or worse if you’re a pessimist) will most probably have catastrophic consequences, as much of our high-tech society is fully dependent on electricity. We depend on electricity for basically everything in our modern-lives, ranging from transportation (yes, modern cars and planes have miles of electric cables running through their innards, which would be fried by the EMP surge caused by the Sun) to public utilities (gas, water). No more internet, no more telecommunications, nothing would work anymore, at least in the areas affected by the solar flare.

Electrical transformers and power grids would be “gone in sixty seconds”, i.e. they would get fried instantly if a major solar storm would hit the Earth directly. Just to give you an idea about how close we are to such an “extinction-level event” (and I am not kidding), two massive solar flares missed the Earth by a whisker in 2012[6] and 2013. These types of events happened numerous times in the past, and it’s a mathematical certainty that it will happen again, sooner or later. Basically, it’s not a question of if, but when.

Optimistic estimates[7] put the damage caused by a Carrington-like event at 2.6 trillion dollars and theorize that it would take us a decade or more to recover.

Here’s a cool video depicting a massive coronal mass ejection captured by one of our satellites:

The question is, what would exactly happen to the US when (not if) the next massive solar storm hits? Because, after all, that’s the question that drives today’s article, right? Considering the fact that the United States is one of the most technologically advanced societies in the world, the kingpin of the first world so to speak, to make a long story short, the next Carrington event would be technological Armageddon. And I am being very serious.

Depending on how powerful it is, a coronal mass ejection hitting Earth may be a minor inconvenience (GPS system down, a 9-hour blackout) or a civilization-ending event. In the worst-case scenario, an SHTF solar-flare would fry America’s power grid, which means no heat/no air conditioning, no internet, no computers, no smartphones, no TV, no credit cards, no bank records.

Moreover, society would cease to function, as there would be no more emergency services, no hospitals, no fire-departments, you won’t be able to pump gas, supermarkets would close due to lack of power (no refrigeration/air conditioning). According to estimates, almost 70 percent of the US population would die of starvation, societal chaos, and disease within the first year[8] in the aftermath of an EMP attack. A massive solar flare hitting us directly would have the exact same effects as an EMP attack from North Korea/China/Russia or whatever “axis of the evil” by the way. Or worse. Or much worse.

To quote from LloTheyd’s[9] optimistic assessment:

The total U.S. population at risk of extended power outage from a Carrington-level storm is between 20-40 million, with durations of 16 days to 1-2 years. The duration of outages will depend largely on the availability of spare replacement transformers. If new transformers need to be ordered, the lead-time is likely to be a minimum of five months. The total economic cost for such a scenario is estimated at $0.6-2.6 trillion USD.

What happens to a city of 10 million+ without electrical power we’ve already seen in New York and other places, as I’ve told you in the preamble of the article. The thin veneer of civilization would disappear quicker than tears in the rain, with society descending into chaos very rapidly. Rioting and looting would occur immediately, and as desperation would set in with people realizing that electricity might be gone forever, the entire system will delve into … well, I don’t know exactly what, as we’ve never been there so far, but it would be Road Warrior levels, The Road and all that:

With satellites in orbit fried first by the solar-flare, global telecom-infrastructure would be obliterated instantly, so people wouldn’t even know what happened, i.e. if it was a nuclear attack, an EMP hit or a natural event. Within thirty days, with food supplies gone in high-density urban centers, a massive die-off would ensue, and violence turning to violent extremes as desperate people fight for food and water.

Here’s from National Academy of Science’s 2008 Severe Space Weather Workshop[10]:

Electric power grids … continue to become more vulnerable to disruption from geomagnetic storms. For example, the evolution of open access on the transmission system has fostered the transport of large amounts of energy across the power system in order to maximize the economic benefit of delivering the lowest-cost energy to areas of demand. The magnitude of power transfers has grown, and the risk is that the increased level of transfers, coupled with multiple equipment failures, could worsen the impacts of a storm event.

As you’ve already suspected by now, the next Carrington event would plunge us into pitch black first, and I mean that literally, with the power grid getting fried and all that, and then our society would be basically wiped out. And this is not science fiction, but science fact. According to a space physicist’s estimate, published in Space Weather Journal (FEB-2012)[11], there’s a 1-in-8 chance a major coronal mass ejection could hit us within 10 years.

I don’t mean to be fear-mongering and all that, just to point out to the fact this is not a wild conspiracy theory, but a scientific probability. And NASA/the US government are taking it seriously, or at least that’s what I would do. Since it’s going to happen again, and we can’t stop it, we should become more prepared to deal with the aftermath of the next Carrington event.

On a personal level, one should prepare for a life (or a long period of time) without electricity, i.e. get out from densely populated urban areas (or have a remote bug-out location, preferably in a prepper community), stockpile food and water, ammo, you know the drill. Concentrate on self reliance/self sufficiency and prepare for violence. And pray you are on the dark side of the earth when SHTF…and also pray that the “feral gummint” and power companies alike are taking proactive measures to protect the power grid/the infrastructure before the storm strikes.

Resources

[1] http://time.com/3949986/1977-blackout-new-york-history/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

[3] https://www.space.com/12584-worst-solar-storms-sun-flares-history.html

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm

[5] https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/06may_carringtonflare/

[6] http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/us-space-solarblasts-idUSBREA2I1SV20140320

[7] http://www.lloyds.com/the-market/tools-and-resources/research/exposure-management/emerging-risks/emerging-risk-reports/business/solar-storm

[8] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/19/north-korea-emp-attack-could-destroy-us-now/?page=all

[9] https://bit.ly/2XF0zBZ

[10] https://bit.ly/31rDjtk

[11] http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011SW000734.shtml

Written by

Chris Black is a born and bred survivalist. He used to work as a contractor for an intelligence service but now he is retired and living off the grid, as humanly possible. An internet addict and a gun enthusiast, a libertarian with a soft spot for the bill of rights and the Constitution, a free market idealist, he doesn't seem very well adjusted for the modern world. You can send Chris a message at editor [at] survivopedia.com.

Latest comments
  • CME or EMP. It’s not a question of ‘if’…the question is ‘when’.

    • Biden and his merry band of trouble makers are fighting foes that don’t exist — man-made global warming, racism, and white supremacy. They are consuming large amounts of our wealth on such useless projects. Meanwhile this is not being lost on our real enemies. At the present time Iran and North Korea have the technology to launch an EMP attack that would send us back to the 1800s and kill 90% of our population within a year. The leaders of these countries hate our guts, and are just waiting for the right time to strike. That time is rapidly approaching while Biden and the silly democrats are fighting windmills. Although China and Russia are well capable of launching an EMP and have been for many years, they probably won’t. We are one of China’s best customers. Russia is just too civilized. However North Korea just hates us. Iran has some warped religious obligation to bring us down.

  • Great article,like the info links. I actually watched the near miss kill shot when it happened.. as our magnetosphere is weak due to being in solar Minimum a smaller flare even a C or M class would do quite the damage.. seeing some clown decided it would be great to outsource our major transformers to China your estimate could be much longer.. if Chinas power is down may never get them… and do we think China is going to “rush” to give USA transformers?? Me either.. scientist now are less worried about a CME.. it is pretty much known that every 12,000 (ish) years the sun emits a micro novae… sun facing side of planets are turned to desert wasteland and most water on planet is vaporized and opposite side goes insta freeze… and more… they have studied the glass spherules from here and did the moon landing for one reason.. to find the same there (zap hits) more heat than anything we have here caused them, only the sun (or a ) could power this. Much info available and the day is near probably in our lifetimes… get ready…

    • All I can say is ‘COME LORD JESUS” to this!

    • Nope! First of all, just think about that timeframe. 12,000 years ago man walked the earth, for over hundreds of thousands of years. If one side of the Earth would have been sent to the desert and the other ice, we would not be reading this. But this is fallacy anyways, since there is no such thing as a micro novae..

  • I wrote a novel some five years ago. My research for the information indicated this information is generally true. Civil disorder is likely to be the order of the day. “I Wish I Had an Orange” gives a true picture of likely events to follow an EMP

  • The EMP of 1859 will be minimal compared to what will happen today. They were still in the Horse & Buggy/steam engine era where people did all the work to a Era where computers/electricity is the norm 99% of the people will really go crazy. i can guarantee that the birth rate will rise exponentially to the time that people have no electricity and computers are gone. Libraries will be doing a bang up business and things will be done the old fashioned way that GOD has decreed. By the sweat of the brow.. Of course this could also lead to the Rapture of the Church

    • I’m not sure people have either the inclination or skills to do things by the sweat of the brow. We’ve become a soft, dependent society in all the “civilized” nations … those that will survive have been doing IT by the sweat of the brow for centuries …. and they don’t live in cities or suburbs with a two car garage.

    • Thank you Captain Obvious.

  • Reliable EMP protection products: Quantum Harvest, EMP protected generator. Tech Protect Faraday Bags. These two things will allow you to retain some electrical capability. And as for the rapture of the church I suggest that if you read it carefully it happens just before the pouring out of the Wrath of God, so that is near the end of the Great Tribulation. Just a thought.

    • Phantom30, I like the way you and Jackie think. Come Lord Jesus?….Yes!, I hope so and soon! I think this Covid-19 pandemic is one of the signs before Christ’s return for the rapture of the church (Matt 24:7-8). Ever wonder why there is no mention of a country resembling the USA in the Bible? I’ve read that if an emp hits, 90% of the population of the U.S. would be gone within a year due to starvation, disease, civil chaos etc…so maybe that explains the absence of the USA in the Bible. As for the Rapture happening just before the pouring out of the Wrath of God, consider this….in Rev 5:9, John observes the events just prior to the beginning of the Tribulation. Whether the men he speaks of represent Israel or the Church, they are redeemed saints who are in heaven just before the revelation of the Tribulation period, confirming a pretribulation rapture. I believe we will see “the signs” just before the Rapture, then immediately thereafter, the Tribulation will begin, the first three and one half years will be “peace and safety” for Israel, then the second 3.5 years will be the “Great Tribulation” where Israel is persecuted. Anyway, before we are taken away, it’s good to be prepared for an EMP and that’s why I like your thoughts on the solar generators, EMP protected of course. That and stocking up on food and water filters, protective gear……

      • Those aren’t the words of the saints but the 24 elders in Heaven. Rev. 6:9 clearly shows the spirits of Christians martyred during the Great Tribulation up in Heaven.

        • ST you are correct. Those under the altar are those who are saved during the tribulation and killed for their faith in Christ. Take a look at Rev 3:10 where Christ tells us that he will keep us from the “hour of temptation” or tribulation, meaning He will rapture those saved just before the tribulation period. John got a preview of the rapture in Rev 4:1-2. The church is mentioned 19 times in Rev, chapters 1-3, but in the 12 chapters that detail the tribulation, there is no mention of the church which means the church escapes the time of tribulation. (1Thess 4:13-18; 1 Cor15::50-58) clearly shows that the Church escapes that time of tribulation. That’s the main thing I wanted to get across, that those who are saved prior to the tribulation will be taken away by Christ prior to that event and will return with Him in Rev 19:14.

      • Try Isaiah 18. Get a good translation and/or go the Hebrew.

    • Not a good one, but a thought!

  • So, basically we’re now between a fast or slow decline and possible ending depending on which events hits harder. Pandemic and economic chaos developing, or CME/EMP strike. And that’s discounting the potential for geopolitical instability i.e. a WW3 resulting from the escalation of all the craziness going on out there. The choice now is to keep plowing (and prepping) or just relax and enjoy the beauty still left in the world while it lasts!

  • I have read , somewhere, that EMP effects are false. Supposedly, there is no evidence thet such is not possible. Some very minor indication of such did occur but is supposidly not a valid indicator of the EMP effect claims. I don’t recall where I saw this. I am no expert. Don’t question me. Thanks

    • As potentially serious as an EMP event is, I think that the likelihood of such is comparatively small, like the chance of the world being hit by a giant asteroid.
      However, that said, there are any number of other possible ways in which the electrical and communications grids could fail, with producing the same result.
      Everything from: the detonation of a high altitude nuclear device (eg. 60 km above the earth’s surface would destroy the grid within a 500km radius of the epicentre); a hacker attack on the centrally located computers which control both the electrical and telecom grids; or, most likely,a technical failure at one location of either of these grids, which would resulting in the entire grid going down, due to the”domino” effect. Without communications, the technicians tasked with repairing the failure would be totally blind. I am speaking as someone who has had a lifelong career in the communications industry, and a ham radio operator.

      • Quite true. If Biden wins, the hand of God, which has been holding off judgment against our corrupt nation, will be withdraw and you will see all sorts of calamities. Try the dreams of Pastor Coverstone on YouTube or Sadhu. They sort of give definition to these calamities.

      • Don’t Forget, Ron. Apophos the asteroid will be here in 5 years. Where are you gonna hide ?

    • The government is building HPM weapons. That is the high frequency spectrum portion of a nuclear EMP, so you might want to reconsider your sources. You should review the library on the Techoproitectbag.com site run by good NASA engineers.

      That also goes for protective devices. Some protect against long wave length sources which exploit connectivity. Others work against the direct impingement HPM part of EMP.

  • The Amish will take over America. They have been waiting for two centuries for the right opportunity.
    A friend asked where I would go to in such an event. I would stay here in my house. I have a roof and tons of resources and neighbors. If I head for the wilderness I have only what I can put in my pick-up.

  • A Carrington-level event is estimated to happen, on average, every 100-200 years. The event was not “freak” occurence!

    • Then it’s an “estimate” … that makes Carrington a freak event.

  • While the government may be taking steps to protect vital interest to maintain the functionality of their systems, I have little faith in seeing any effort to harden the systems serving the rest of us. Food, water, shelter and a means to protect ourselves will be easily attained. However, having a supply of prescription drugs critical to your particular needs may present a problem. One I can think of is insulin There aren’t many who have diabetes who are able to stock up on insulin. Without it, the story ends.

    • Without power to refrigerate insulin, it doesn’t matter how much you have stocked up.

  • The G1 and G2 level solar storms currently hitting the earth now, December 2020, “should not” have a major impact beyond impressive displays of the aurora borealis. When a Carrington event does occur a better location to be would be third world countries who are less technologically advanced therefore should not be as severely impacted as highly developed country such as the USA. Point of interest on Faraday Boxes. My nephew, PhD Astroscience, whose thesis was solar impact on satellite transmission and operations, stated FB’s would not provide protection in a major event. A likelihood exists that even military grade hardware protection would have issues in such a case. The next Carrington will be biblical. Believe I don’t want to around when it occurs.

  • I would be much more concerned about the upcoming NOVA of our Star, the SUN! We are viewing NOVA events frequently via our HUBBLE TELESCOPE as well as all of our additional visual and radio Telescopes that are viewing far into the Universe to see that there are recurring NOVA EVENTS as well as terminal NOVA events occurring on a regular basis.

    We are also aware of THE GREAT YEAR (See the YouTube Video with James Earl Jones doing the Narration.). We are approximately 12,000 years since the last such cataclysmic event which Douglas Vogt of the DIEHOLD FOUNDATION has calculated multiple ways to be coming in mid OCTOBER 2046! The recurring Cycle is 12,068 years and yes, our Government has known about the fact that our Sun will also NOVA since at least the mid 1950’s. This was the reason for the Urgency of putting a Man on the Moon within the 1960’s. This the reason for the Moon program to be called the APOLLO PROJECT. (Apollo is the Sun god.). Also, see “The Adam and Eve Story” by Chan Thomas, declassified by CIA in 2013. Also, see BEN DAVIDSON at “Suspicious Observers.

    Very few people will survive it and, if it is as all of the previous times, the remnant people are luckily remaining in some “Lucky Places” so as to be missed by the cataclysmic events. The bad news is that all of the technology and developments of the past 12,000 years will be lost by these people so that the survivors will be CAVE PEOPLE!
    Enjoy your future, people!

    ==>>> For an alternate Ending, see Doug Vogt of the Diehld Foundation and get to work! You have 25 years left which is less time than what it took NOAH to build the ARC for the mid-term event 6,000 years ago!

    • Apocalyptic pseudo-science with a spattering of pseudo-religion. Absolutely no credibility.

  • Roy, I don’t know what kind of cool aid you’re drinking but our sun will not end its life as a supernova. It’s much too small. The latest from our scientists is that once the sun reaches a certain age, which is still billions of years in the future, it will possibly expand beyond the orbit of Mars and become a red giant. At that time the luminosity of the sun will have increased so much that long before the sun expands the oceans of this world will have boiled off and this world will have become uninhabitable.

  • If having a off grid solar solar system and this hits us . Would Everything be fried or would the Panels survive as they won’t have circuit boards on them and the controllers and the other electronic devices would be fried – . so would having spares and keeping them in a thick rubber box and Faraday cage keep it working — OR would everything go bye-bye . And if it works must have thick cardboard to block all windows and doors to block light from going out

  • No, it’s only going to affect those of you who are still on thi planet. I made friends, the last time I was abducted. They are going to come back and take me and my family to safety. They don’t think the Earth will be a very friendly place for quite some time. Of course, they are looking at it from a tech point of view. Probably, after the Great Cull, the simple life will return, and old skills will be learned. I could be wrong. Perhaps the world will be run by cartels, and most will be slaves.

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