Solar Storm Calamity Missed by Just One Week 

Where were you on July 23, 2012? Notice anything unusual? Sun a shade brighter maybe, or ??? Well, if you didn't notice anything, you weren't alone. It seems just about everybody missed a rather large solar flare that, it turns out, was the most powerful one that we know about in at least the last 150 years. The storm it created went galloping through space and right through the path of our little Earth. We had been in the exact spot it rampaged through exactly a week earlier. Yes, if this storm had happened just one week earlier, our little planet would have been in the direct path.

But we missed it. This time. And, you might ask, what would have happened? “If the eruption had occurred one week earlier, Earth would have been in the line of fire,” said Daniel Baker, professor of atmospheric and space physics at the University of Colorado. Scientists have concluded that it would have been comparable to the largest known space storm they know about that occurred back in 1859, known as the Carrington Event, and it would have been twice as bad as the 1989 solar storm that knocked out power across the entire province of Quebec in Canada.

The iconic Carrington Event of Sept. 1859, is named after English astronomer Richard Carrington who actually saw the instigating flare with his own eyes.  In the days that followed his observation, a series of powerful CMEs hit Earth head-on with a potency not felt before or since.  Intense geomagnetic storms ignited Northern Lights as far south as Cuba and caused global telegraph lines to spark, setting fire to some telegraph offices and thus disabling the 'Victorian Internet."

“I have come away from our recent studies more convinced than ever that Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did,” said Baker. The National Academy of Sciences has said the economic impact of a storm like the one in 1859 could today cost the modern economy more than two trillion dollars and cause damage that might take years to repair. 

"If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces," says Baker. "In my view, the July 2012 storm was in all respects at least as strong as the 1859 Carrington Event. The only difference is, it missed." This time, yes, but what about tomorrow?