BALTIMORE, Maryland March 20, 2014 - Sometimes you must keep things in perspective. Scientists at the University of California at Berkley say that an enormous solar blast with an associated electromagnetic pulse narrowly missed Earth two years ago. Had it hit - and these kinds of storms do hit Earth periodically - all electricity would've been knocked out and damage worldwide would exceed $2 trillion.
A similar event did hit the Earth in 1859 and was called the "Carrington Effect". This, of course, was before the Earth's population was so heavily reliant on electricity, computers and high technology. Nevertheless, telegraph lines were literally melted and Aurorae, usually only seen in polar areas, were seen as far south as the Carribean. A Baltimore newspaper said the night sky was lit brighter than a full moon would; others said the light was so bright that newspapers could be read by it. Janet G. Luhmann, one of the Berkley scientists who penned a report on the incident, said the near-miss happened on July 28, 2012. Had the event hit the Earth, it would have taken world governments from four to ten years to recover. Worse yet, Third-World dictators with nuclear capabilities may be able to mimic an event by exploding a bomb in Earth's atmosphere. Several States, led by Maine, have begun to prepare for such events. Credit for this story to the Washingon Examiner and Wikipedia. See the full Examiner story at http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2545996.
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