TIL that a Solar Flare in 1859 caused Telegraph Systems to Fail
The event was a Geomagnetic Solar Storm, where the earth's magnetosphere was bombarded with plasma from the sun which had been ejected with force into the solar system. It then distorted our magnetic field.
Two amateur English astronomers, Ruchard Hodgson and Richard Carrington had noticed a sudden increase in sunspots starting in late August 1859. Auroras started to be noticed in places they weren't normally seen, such as in Mexico, Hawaii and sub-saharan Africa.
Then Telegraph systems failed across America and Europe. In some cases the equipment got fried and nothing could be sent, but in other cases telegraph operators report sending messages even though the power had been disconnected - power from the solar flare was doing the work.
In 1859 using electromagnetism was in it's infancy, but our world is dominated by electronics that are sensitive to disturbances in the earth's magnetosphere, and we've had a taste in recent years of what they can do.
The March 1989 Solar Storm
On March 6th 1989, Nasa detected a very large solar flare, and on March 9th 1989 it hit the earth. The burst disrupted radio signals, including signals from the American "Radio Free Europe" into the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was in a shaky state at that point and some people worried that desperate communists were going to launch an attack, starting with jamming radio signals.
However, an aurora flare so intense that it could be seen in Texas also appeared and Nasa advised the government that they thought the sun was responsible for the radio signal jamming.
But the worst was yet to come: weather satellites lost communication with the earth, and control of satellites near the poles were lost altogether. The Space Shuttle Discovery, which was in orbit at the time, reported unusually high pressure readings around it's hydrogen tanks.
Then the solar flare tripped the switches of Quebec's hydro-electric power grid. The power was out in Quebec for nine hours.
The solar storm of 2012
This one was judged to be the same intensity as the 1859 storm, but we experienced a near miss - it hit a solar observatory spacecraft, but was just outside the earth's magnetosphere.
Earth is lucky in that there are two planets close to the sun with short orbits, Mercury and Venus, whose gravity attracts the solar flares before they get to us. But at some point in the future, they'll be lined up behind the sun and there will be nothing between us and another solar flare. And unlike in 1859 and 1989, the world is utterly dominated with electronics that are vulnerable to a geomagnetic storm.
There wasn't any internet in 1989. The next solar flare might take down the internet and disrupt digital payments. Which is why it is sensible to have some cash in the house for emergencies.
If you put your electronics (phone laptop etc) in a Faraday cage they should survive an EMP. If your car is made of metal as opposed to fiberglass, then it should function as a Faraday Cage, so store stuff in there.
The real problem is getting enough notice that a solar flare is happening, so you can take action and put stuff in your car.
There is actually an effort to avoid something similar from happening by Congressman in Maryland, Andy Harris and a petition to show support.
It totally makes sense to harden our more sensitive grid to avoid a MAJOR event that is due to come.
https://www.change.org/p/andy-harris-protect-the-grid-from-a-cme/share?utm_medium=email&utm_source=notification&utm_campaign=new_petition_recruit