devastating solar storms expected to knock out National Grid in 2013

Read this: www.empcommission.org...
Read the PDF's
I am the emergency coordinator where I work. I get alerts on my cellphone and email about solar flares. If a big one is coming, we'd have about 12 hours or so warning.
That's why, as I finish building out my solar power system for my home, I'm hardening it against EMP's...

I think we've found the sequel for Y2K..

I see most people looking at major catastrophes that could happen. You need to be aware that there are many smaller things that can happen that effect our lives also. This charge, similar to the charge that lights HP or fluorescent light bulbs during thunderstorms, can cause various problems with appliances and electronics in the home. A good whole house protector on the fuse box can help some line problems, sending the voltage over it's designed overload to ground. It won't protect from brownouts but overload from the lines is taken care of.

As for the HPS lights and fluorescent lights glowing, it's an indicator of higher voltage in the air. This high voltage, low amp energy is not real harmfull but it can cause small problems within circuits in electronics. I have lost a a few TVs and various stereo components and computers to this. The surge protectors don't help this and the electronic equipment doesn't always burn out, it just gets problems after the thunderstorm is over and there is no evidence that it actually came from the storm because it didn't actually die. It degrades the preformance of things or makes things flicker or crackle. Living in a spot with frequent lightning strikes and having your stand up during thunderstorms you become aware of things that happen. You get used to this but you learn to be aware of things as you live on a hill full of minerals and an underground water source feeding springs farther down the hills.

My mothers house has a weird thing caused by high voltage power lines close by. The tic tester goes off around the metal heat ducts. The high voltage lines created a field that energised the long flat ductwork in the basement. The furnace contractor put a rubber boot between the ducts and furnace so the energy built up did not go to ground. grounding the ducts solved the problem. Although this induced voltage appeared not appear to cause health problems, it did cause mental confusion indirectly.

Things don't have to cause big disasters to effect your life. These little things can cause expenses that seem unrelated. I have noticed from checking receipts that I seem to have bought more new appliances and electronics during Solar Max. I save all most receipts for things along with the manuals and file them with the taxes for the years. I got used to this with my business so investigating this was not hard. I did not cross check the remaining things with in between solar flares though, that would take a lot of work. I had noticed that there was a relationship between these times of purchase and the solar max when going through receipts a while back. I have a different situation than most people though because of my location over the underground water. This may or not apply to others homes. Most people don't have lightning strike their trees on their property many times in twenty years either. It keeps the pine trees from growing to tall, blowing the tops off to keep them at about a hundred twenty five feet tall. It keeps me in a constant supply of campfire wood, the hardwood trees can't handle it and many times die when they get blown apart.

Is what I have experienced pertinent to others situations? I'm not sure, every location is different so I can't say for sure. I can only tell others what I have noticed here. Having this problem over the years has steered me to a lot of specialized research in this field of voltages in the air and ground voltages. I have well over a hundred hours of research into this over the last twenty years and at least another hundred hours of thinking about it. I also talked personally to electricians about it and conversed online with electrical engineers. I even spoke with people from the local national weather service about it and got input from them.

Originally posted by Pirateofpsychonautics
I think we've found the sequel for Y2K..

But we already went through one solar maximum since Y2K (the last solar maximum was in 2000), and we were fine. There is no reason to believe this 2013 solar maximum will be any different than that past one.

Granted, it is possible to have a solar event (like a huge CME) could cause wide-spread problems with the electrical grid and with communication satellites, but there is nothing to suggest one is any more imminent in 2013 than at any other time.

On the other hand, if by "I think we've found the sequel for Y2K" you are referring to all the unsubstantiated hype surrounding Y2K -- then yeah.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


There is a twenty two year cycle also and this would mean that our cycle could be more like the one in 89. The 89 cycle caused more problems than the 2000 cycle. It actually takes about twenty two years to complete a full cycle. I read about forty four year cycles also but I am having trouble finding that information again because of improper wording of the search. Seems it needs specialized names to get to the right place. These 11 year half cycles are not always the same length and there are some articles out there saying that solar max may disappear again for a while like it did hundreds of years ago. The result was an ice age....Brrrr....I hope that doesn't happen yet, they keep promising global warming but nobody ever seems to keep their promises anymore. We finally get some nice summers here and they start talking of taking them away.

reply to post by davjan4

That's why, as I finish building out my solar power system for my home, I'm hardening it against EMP's...

The PDFs are about an EMP attack. Geomagnetic storms are not the same as an EMP attack. It's good to have a PV system if the grid goes down but a geomagnetic storm will not harm it. On the other hand, if there is an EMP attack, your PV system will be the least of your worries.

reply to post by rickymouse

There is a twenty two year cycle also and this would mean that our cycle could be more like the one in 89.

Not really. During each solar maximum the magnetic field of the Sun reverses so every other maximum it returns to where it was two maximums before. As you say, the 22 year "cycle" is actually just the period of a full cycle, with 11 years being the half cycle.

The current cycle (24) is really nothing like 22. Cycle 22 had a very high sunspot number. This cycle is proving to have a very low sunspot number.

Did anything of note occur during solar cycle 20?

sorry i cant start a new thread yet , but i was look at this video , so whats everybodies take on this guy ??

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by Phage


I didn't study 20 much. It was a time when the government started telling people they should wear sunscreen though. I don't remember much happening then and during that time I worked outdoors without sunscreen a lot. I like the way that they tell us to wear sunscreen all the time when it is really only necessary for most people in a solar Max Someone must have paid someone off.

I myself don't think there is going to be a super flare that is going to knock everything out. There could be localized events but the government and the power companies have done a lot of preparing to fix problems that can occur. We can still get a lot of things that go haywire in our homes though, I think the big businesses are aware of this and are happy to sell us new things. There is also a lot of research that has been done on people getting all excited during Solar max times, with lots of civil unrest. I've seen articles showing of the monks records of civil unrest breaking out during the times sun activity was high. These records go back a thousand years. Is it a coincidence that everything is happening around the world when the solar max is here? I don't think so. Harvard did a study on the effect of the solar cycle on the Stock Market. Although the solar activity seemed tied to the volitility of the market, the results were not released to the general public. How about the elite and the graduates of Harvard though, did they get this info? Your guess is just as good as mine.

I installed a whole house protector on my box. It wasn't that expensive. I got four of them at a clearance sale at a hardware I shop at for about ten bucks each and wired one in each building I own. They don't protect computers well but help fridges and appliances. These have the capacitors or whatever they are in them to balance along with the overcurrent protection.

I am sick of hearing about this already. The knowledge of solar storms and their potential to drop the grid has been around for a while and it makes one wonder why we haven't at least started to construct some kind of backup underground or in protective casings? The fact that they don't already have this in place or at least under construction is clear evidence of our frivolously backward civilization. Beyond some parts of the internet and the 3d scanner there is really nothing to marvel at with our technology at the moment.

reply to post by rickymouse

I don't remember much happening then and during that time I worked outdoors without sunscreen a lot. I like the way that they tell us to wear sunscreen all the time when it is really only necessary for most people in a solar Max

Why is it only necessary during solar max? The UV output of the Sun doesn't vary much across the cycle and the changes in radiation levels on the surface are not noticeable.

Although the solar activity seemed tied to the volitility of the market, the results were not released to the general public.

You must be special then? Here's another interesting correlation: www.stocktips.com...

These have the capacitors or whatever they are in them to balance along with the overcurrent protection.

Yes, when the power blinks off and on the compressor motor on a refrigertor can draw a lot. It's not a bad idea to unplug them if the power goes out, just remember to plug them back in.

reply to post by kronos11

The knowledge of solar storms and their potential to drop the grid has been around for a while and it makes one wonder why we haven't at least started to construct some kind of backup underground or in protective casings?

Various measures are being undertaken and contingency plans developed. The problem is (in the US anyway) is that the power companies are for the most part independent entities so there isn't really any centralized effort.

Also, the changes in infrastructure are costly. Cheaper in the long run than a massive failure? Yes. But the likelihood of such a failure, while there, is low so there isn't quite the incentive that there should be.

I dont think its possible to predict a solar flare until just before it occours.

I find it highly amusing that people actually link to articles from The Daily freaking Mail to support their points. No better way to destroy your own credibility than to use The Daily Mail as a source....

solar storm cme we should work on back ups it hapened in 1859 and it will happen again and the question is when

reply to post by Phage


Very interesting stock tip. I suppose length of skirts could have something to do with the overall risk people are willing to take. It could be an indicator.

I lost my fridge last year during a three day power outage. The power was coming on and off for a while before the total outage that the motor was laboring and fighting the pressure of the compressed gas while restarting. A seven year old fridge and the thing messed all up causing a failure of the electronic components. The whole house protector only buffers short snaps of outages, it did nothing in this case. Insurance won't cover something like that, no evidence to show what caused the problem. Just bought another eight hundred dollar fridge and replaced it. What can you do. This particular problem did not have anything that I can say is related to solar activity.

I read an article a while back stating that during Solar Max there is more energy hitting the earth and it has an increased effect on the chemical reactions happening in the skin. It think it was something about vitamin D. When the processes use up available chemicals and an imbalance is created, there is incomplete chemistry created. This causes problems. It could have been in researching the hooks that hold the skin to the flesh also, these elastin hooks, like velcro, are effected by chemicals and excessive heat. The article did not explain exactly what the problems that were created could cause and I didn't think it was worth digging into because I do not have skin problems. I am sure the same problems could occur during solar min. but the energy is less so a longer time in the sun would be needed. That last statement is my interpretation as applied to your question. It may or may not be a good interpretation because I did not research this totally so I'll call it an educated guess..

reply to post by Maroboduus


Hey, the articles in the Daily Mall are interesting. Just because the paper doesn't have credibility, doesn't mean all it's articles are bad.

reply to post by kronos11


The government was very aware of the possibilities of a solar storms effect on electrical devices long ago. AT&T had protected buildings to shield their communications(phone) systems in the past. They still have these shielded buildings but new ones have been built with less shielding. The government was allowing AT&T to recover the extra costs of this on our phone bills years ago. Communications were considered crucial. Some of this was because of known solar influence but some was also because of the effects of nuclear weapons on circuitry. The little phone box hanging on my wall outside has a fuse that shuts off in an event of high ground voltage and goes back on when it drops off. I lose internet sometimes when storms are around, I don't know if the phone itself was effected though, We usually try to stay off the phone in storms.

reply to post by Phage


Are you sure about that one? Define what a magnetic ray would mean to you.

reply to post by VeritasAequitas

It means nothing to me.
Perhaps you can define it for me. Preferably in some terms that would relate to solar activity.