> Were a similarly intense geomagnetic storm to occur today, it would likely seriously damage the electrical power grid, causing widespread outages and blackouts, as well as disrupting satellite communications.
Is this really true? I’m suspicious for a few reasons:
1. If it were true, I expect it would be a national security concern, and quickly remedied
2. While there is a lot more dependence on electrical connections, there’s also many more sources of disturbance now. So I suspect some of the failure modes are tested by “normal” human activity
3. EMI is a known risk, in my previous job we actively tested and built for it. I suppose if the limits are inappropriately set , or if this sort of testing isn’t wide spread, it could still be an issue.
4. As long as there’s a neutral line, i think any common mode should be rejected, in which case this should be fine?
Here are some of the risks that are currently unfeasible to mitigate:
G5:
> Widespread voltage control problems and protective system problems can occur, some grid systems may experience complete collapse or blackouts. Transformers may experience damage.
S5:
> Satellites may be rendered useless, memory impacts can cause loss of control, may cause serious noise in image data, star-trackers may be unable to locate sources; permanent damage to solar panels possible.
---
One extremely unlucky solar event can set us back for years, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to prepare for it long term. Our best predictive models give us a couple of days notice.
In a sense, we're more prepared for an asteroid collision (not by much) than a solar event.
I don’t get it will the x-rays damage the power infrastructure? or only the solar storm afterwards? because we know when a solar storm is coming hours out so we can just turn everything off..
"Turning things off" is not enough, by the way. A transformer doesn't need to be operating (delivering power) to be damaged by a geomagnetic storm. If it is connected, or not properly isolated or not properly grounded, it can be affected.
The X-Rays mostly disturb the ionosphere, affeting communications. It causes radio blackouts. CMEs (which can co-occur or occur separately with flares) are a burp of charged particles that are most dangerous to equipment when they hit Earth. The largest the burp and largest intersection with Earth's trajectory, the stronger the event and its effects.
I don’t really understand the purpose of the linked article but you can disconnect the transformers from the grid via software which, if they were already turning off all the power generating stations to mitigate the damage of a Carrington level event they would certainly do as well..
A literal man doesn’t need to go and flip a switch in person to disconnect transformers from the grid. As to how they power such a device it was never with transformer level voltage so who cares it’s tangential
> A literal man doesn’t need to go and flip a switch in person to disconnect transformers from the grid.
I never said it did.
> As to how they power such a device it was never with transformer level voltage so who cares it’s tangential
You do understand the notion of a huge ass sun-burp sized oscillating magnetic field driving a conductor to surge, right?
Also, you are suggesting a software kill-switch to the entire electrical grid, with no obvious way to turn it on back again, in the age of cyberwarfare.
I'm not a specialist, but I don't need to be one to know you're vibe electrical engineering instead of speaking from a place of experience.
There's never been a recorded S5 solar radiation storm. The highest level recorded was 43000 or S4 back in 1991. Another S4 storm occurred recently back in January 19, 2026 with a recorded flux of 36976.133.
Your comment sounds dismissive. Did you intend it that way?
The table you cite goes back to the 1960s. The weather in the article occurs about 100 years before that. Not recording an S5 event doesn’t mean humanity has not experienced one.
Whether it’s worth preparing for is another issue entirely.
Some of the accounts linked with those events are almost of biblical proportions. Red crucifixes on the sunset (associated with the 774–775 carbon-14 spike), sky serpents and so on.
The unpredictability of those events is a major point of anxiety by the way. We don't know enough to predict when the next big one will hit, and modern society has never seen one (the Carrington Event being the closest match, but still timid compared to the proxy evidence we have for what a strong solar event could be).
pinkmuffinere · · focus · HN ↗
Is this really true? I’m suspicious for a few reasons:
1. If it were true, I expect it would be a national security concern, and quickly remedied
2. While there is a lot more dependence on electrical connections, there’s also many more sources of disturbance now. So I suspect some of the failure modes are tested by “normal” human activity
3. EMI is a known risk, in my previous job we actively tested and built for it. I suppose if the limits are inappropriately set , or if this sort of testing isn’t wide spread, it could still be an issue.
4. As long as there’s a neutral line, i think any common mode should be rejected, in which case this should be fine?
gaigalas · · focus · HN ↗
Here are some of the risks that are currently unfeasible to mitigate:
G5:
> Widespread voltage control problems and protective system problems can occur, some grid systems may experience complete collapse or blackouts. Transformers may experience damage.
S5:
> Satellites may be rendered useless, memory impacts can cause loss of control, may cause serious noise in image data, star-trackers may be unable to locate sources; permanent damage to solar panels possible.
---
One extremely unlucky solar event can set us back for years, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to prepare for it long term. Our best predictive models give us a couple of days notice.
In a sense, we're more prepared for an asteroid collision (not by much) than a solar event.
bethekidyouwant · · focus · HN ↗
gaigalas · · focus · HN ↗
"Turning things off" is not enough, by the way. A transformer doesn't need to be operating (delivering power) to be damaged by a geomagnetic storm. If it is connected, or not properly isolated or not properly grounded, it can be affected.
The X-Rays mostly disturb the ionosphere, affeting communications. It causes radio blackouts. CMEs (which can co-occur or occur separately with flares) are a burp of charged particles that are most dangerous to equipment when they hit Earth. The largest the burp and largest intersection with Earth's trajectory, the stronger the event and its effects.
bethekidyouwant · · focus · HN ↗
gaigalas · · focus · HN ↗
bethekidyouwant · · focus · HN ↗
gaigalas · · focus · HN ↗
So far, your description of the solution just doesn't solve the problem.
bethekidyouwant · · focus · HN ↗
gaigalas · · focus · HN ↗
I never said it did.
> As to how they power such a device it was never with transformer level voltage so who cares it’s tangential
You do understand the notion of a huge ass sun-burp sized oscillating magnetic field driving a conductor to surge, right?
Also, you are suggesting a software kill-switch to the entire electrical grid, with no obvious way to turn it on back again, in the age of cyberwarfare.
I'm not a specialist, but I don't need to be one to know you're vibe electrical engineering instead of speaking from a place of experience.
drmpeg · · focus · HN ↗
<a href="https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/solar-activity/top-solar-radiation-storms.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/solar-activity/top-solar...
fn-mote · · focus · HN ↗
The table you cite goes back to the 1960s. The weather in the article occurs about 100 years before that. Not recording an S5 event doesn’t mean humanity has not experienced one.
Whether it’s worth preparing for is another issue entirely.
gaigalas · · focus · HN ↗
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_storms#Proxy_evidence" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_storms#Proxy_evi...
Some of the accounts linked with those events are almost of biblical proportions. Red crucifixes on the sunset (associated with the 774–775 carbon-14 spike), sky serpents and so on.
The unpredictability of those events is a major point of anxiety by the way. We don't know enough to predict when the next big one will hit, and modern society has never seen one (the Carrington Event being the closest match, but still timid compared to the proxy evidence we have for what a strong solar event could be).