As I look for content for my “offerings,” I may start on one subject and find that my mind wants to focus on something else. As I let a few days pass between composing, “things” started happening (climate-wise) that reinforced my train of thought. It is with this in mind that I decided to simply run this as a two-part story.
The second part of my conversation deals with “figurative” storms and what could happen to our power supply if we get hit with a MAJOR Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). We just went through a few days of unusually strong “Class X” solar storms. This was more of an inconvenient spectacle for those who temporarily lost power or cable internet services. Some folks in various places, such as Arizona and the state of Florida, have seen what should have been the view of a lifetime. (That being the “Northern Lights” from the incoming energy from our sun!) As the solar “light show” was playing out, my brother and sister in law were enjoying the view from a campground in South Dakota. The picture was taken on the first night of the incoming storms, but they had the chance to view many more of those scenes on the following nights.
Now, since the major solar storm of 1859 (famously titled “The Carrington Event,” named after the scientist who recorded it), we have had more of these “storms” strong enough to be seen at locations hundreds of miles from where they usually are seen from. One of the recent flares came from a sunspot that was nearly as big (and as powerful) as the Carrington Event. From the 1859 event, records were kept, and the following list of “Low Latitude Auroras” are as follows: From 1859, the next one was in 1882, then 1903, 1921, 1972, 1989, 1991, 2001, 2003, then five TIMES in 2023! Now, in 2024, we have had 5 cases BEFORE THIS MAJOR VOLLEY, then six in six days!
I have mentioned in the past that as our magnetic poles continue in their “flip” (that started about 40 years ago and has sped up in the last two decades) and as the magnetospheric poles move closer to the equator, it may diminish our “shield” down to as little as 10 to 15 percent.
By the way, that is how much shield protection we have already lost since its “flip -start.” This also means that when our shields are down (as Scotty would tell Captain Kirk), a normally lower-class (X10 to X20) storm may do the same damage to our infrastructure as an X50!
Possible and probable responses to these “storms”
Nearing the end of this essay, I ran it by my wife, and (as usual) she added a needed response. She said, “All that you have mentioned about the problems with China possibly attacking us, and then the Solar issues in part 2, where are your answers to the questions of what can be done?”
For the “China” problem, it is a lot easier to fix than dealing with CMEs. We “JUST” need to vote the traitorous administration out and put Mr. Trump back in the driver’s seat! The wall will get built, and the embedded Chinese “sleeper cells” should be rooted out and BOOTED OUT!
As for the problems with the solar bombardments of the future, we (not only as a nation but the whole world) need to “harden” our electrical grid infrastructure! But WHAT REALLY NEEDS TO HAPPEN is that our government entities (from national, state, county, down to city leaders) need to ADMIT THAT THIS IS A REAL PROBLEM! Once that is done, clearer answers should come from RESPONSIBLE scientists (not like the group of “MD chickens” that allowed the questionable vaccine to be given to people who DID NOT NEED IT)! Once we (the people) put our petty political differences behind us, and start acting like mature adults, just maybe we can save this whole thing that we call HUMANITY! Y’all be blessed ‘till we meet again!
Steve Goodwin is a recently retired Christian conservative veteran (of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division), who still feels that “duty to country” did not end when the military uniform got hung up. He and his wife Cecelia live on the edge of a beautifully wooded tract of land just south of the bypass, and are involved in not only church activities, but also attend school board meetings and local community action events as well.
