Solar Kill Shot possible? Crackpots and Scientists Agree. Sort of.

I have been talking to a few people lately about being prepared for the potential of the “solar kill shot.”  The short version of this is that the sun is slowly waking from a long slumber and our reliance on all things electrical, coupled with the powerful “electro-magnetic pulse” from a solar Coronal Mass Ejection (CME, or ‘solar flare’) can wreak havoc on all things electronic.  Including cars. And computers, and power lines and phone systems, and… The list goes on.

This sort of scenario falls easily into the realm of “doom and gloomer” crackpots. (Ed Dames even has a Video The Killshot.)   But Scientists are warning that this particular solar cycle, and our dependence on electronics, could be catastrophic.  This article describes things in economic terms, but imagine the potential harm that can result in $2,000 BILLION in losses.

According to this story, we were visited by another flare, but luckily it was weak in comparison.  I include an excerpt below, but recommend you read the full article.

From the article:

The sun is waking up from a long quiet spell. Last week it sent out the strongest flare for four years – and scientists are warning that earth should prepare for an intense electromagnetic storm that, in the worst case, could be a “global Katrina” costing the world economy $2,000bn.

Senior officials responsible for policy on solar storms – also known as space weather – in the US, UK and Sweden urged more preparedness at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.

…

In terms of terrestrial vulnerability, the biggest change since the 2000 peak is that the world has become more dependent on global positioning system satellites – and not just for navigation. The world’s mobile phone networks depend on ultra-precise GPS time signals for their co-ordination.