NorthEast Black out in 1946 - Do you remember talk of it?

And I don�t mean electrical. Although electric power was lost in many places.

I have talked to several older folks in my home town here in NW PA and they all remember the day the sun went out.

Some of the versions vary a bit but most basic points are agreed upon.

I thought I had pinpointed the year to 1946. The weather was warm and most likely was in late Aug.

About noon or 1PM on that day, they all noticed a darkening of the sky. By 3-4 Pm it was dark. Pitch black dark. Not twilight but so dark you couldn�t see your hand in front of your face dark.

When the darkening started the sky was overcast or atleast appeared gray. You really couldn�t see clouds. After the darkeness set in, there were no stars, no wind, no fog, no smell of smoke.

Many places reported loss of electricity and even natural gas where it was available at that time.
NYC was blacked out. Reports of panic and people stuck in elevators covered the front page of local newspapers.
The official story given was a huge forest fire in Canada causing a smokey upper atmosphere that blotted out the sun.

The people I talked to remember at least 2 -3 days of darkness. Pitch black darkness.

Also that year (I was told) an electric plant in Niagria Falls was damaged by an earthquake.

So, I�m wondering, how wide spread was the black out? Who remembers it? Was there really a fire in Canada that year and would/could it have caused that kind of black out.

And why the loss of electricity and natural gas? It was just smoke supposedly although no one remembers smelling the smoke.

Enquiring Minds want to know.

I did some searches and couldn�t find anything about a NYC black out or a forest fire in Canada in that time frame. I checked the Canadian version of the US forest Service and there is no record of a huge forest fire anytime around that year. If the black out was caused by a fire you'd think it would have to have been pretty big.

I also went to the local library and checked the newspaper archives for 1946 and found nothing.

I'm going back and check 1945.

My mom remembers it well and she remembers seeing it written up in the paper. It was also broadcast on local radio.
One person said they thought there may have been an article in Time magazine.

It has to have happened between 1944 and 1947.

Phimes

hmm. I've heard about the great east coast blackout that happened sometime in the 1970s, but nothing about this. next time my great aunts visit, I'll ask them. they were living in PA at that time, so they might remember something.

Here's a page of info that someone has collected on it:
www.angelfire.com...

The incident would be related to the Chincaga Fire in Canada, and the dates are September 20-24. The year was 1950.

Check (through interlibrary loan) for materials by Cordy Tymstra of the Alberta Forest Service, who co-authored a paper on it, and was currently working on a book (Blue Moon, Blue Sun - the Story of the 1950 Chinchaga Fire).

[Edited on 4-6-2003 by Byrd]

This black out occurred in the 1940's. That I am certain on based on remembered life events that happened at the same time.

There was an electrical black out in the 60's also but that doesn't explain why no one could see the sun.

Phimes

Thanks for the link to the articles about this. It is very interesting.
One guy makes the connection to the atomic bomb experiments and does state that those experiments started in 1945.

Could this earlier event I'm hearing about be connect to that.

A snip of the article : I lived in Erie, where I was born, when this incident ocurred.
The "chemical" (and other "defense-related") experiments were initially
conducted in California, Nevada, and New Mexico between 1945 and 1955,
commencing even before WWII ended.
end snip.

This sure sounds like the same type of event.
Still puzzling about the different times it was remembered to have happened.

Phimes