During the last two years our sun has been rather active with auroras visible even down to Spain and Italy.
Now a massive earth facing sunspot is forming on rhe suns surface that is larger than that which triggered the Carrington event where auroras bright enough to read a newspaper were visible right down to the Caribbean.
There wasnt much in the way of technology that would have been affected by the sun back in the middke of the 1800’s, but it is reported that sparks flew from telegraph wires.
Such an event today would blow us back to the 1700’s, the electrical grid would collape, all unshielded electronice woud fry and all highvoltage transformers would burn out.
Surprisingly vaccum tube tech would fare better, so hold onto your granny’s wireless.
When though? Next year? 10 year? 100 years? When?
Soon.
According to sources.
…among others, meaning it could happen in tne coming days.
Probably wont but the potential is there.
The Aurora fascinates me beyond reasoning, I saw it a few times out in the Århus Vik on Henrietta, my “Gammle Danske Fiskkutter” then far off fo the north while getting a BJ on a slab of granite near Silver City on the south shore of lake Superior, then again from the window of a Europe bound 747.
Imagine my annoyance having missed it when the aurora came to Bavaria!
So I follow the aurora forecast closely, that is why such an event has me slavering.
…which explains @Slammer 's lack of sleep…
Now we just need the Yellowstone volcano to erupt. It would take out half the US. There’s a new bulge the size of Chicago.
Am I evil for thinking there’s an upside to that?
Wrong half.
The problem wit the Yellowstone supervolcano is that it is rather indiscriminate on who it incinerates.
Including Alberta and Manitoba.
In my humble opinion as worker in geo things, do worry about earthquakes. Earthquakes are 1 in a 1k years events, volcanoes are 1 in 100k years events.
Also volcanoes give away lots of warning signs, provided someone is monitoring them. The Cumbre Vieja Volcano eruption in 2021 is a showcase of what geologists can do these days. Tomography based on seismometers to see how magma is rising up from the depth, radar from satellites to see how the the terrain surface bulges up. The forecasts are great.
The casualties are mostly those who say “I’ve lived here all my life and nothing has ever happened, damned scientists scaring people”. Of course, people can evacuate on time. But economic loses can be crippling.
Your post lead me to find this site: Volcanoes of the World - News, Facts & Information | VolcanoDiscovery
In terms of quakes or volcanoes, Switzerland seems a pretty good place to be.
Actually no CH is slap bang in a seismic active zone. In Rheinfelden you can actually go from one plate to anotuer somply by crossing the Bridge from Rheinfelden CH to Rheinfelden DE, the infamous “Annaloch” is a part of the rift.
Basel slid into the Rhein in 1356 and at one point. Oodles of yonks ago the Rhein itsself flowed into the Rhone.
Nope, there is nothing to stop Switzerland from shaking, rattling and rolling.
And…old buildings are not prepared at all for it because no big quake in the last 5 centuries.
Presumably new ones aren’t either.
Pethaps not.
We’ve had several tremblers here; OH freaks out, but hey, I’m from San Francisco. You ain’t seen nuttin. Look at the pictures from Loma Prieta. I’d be more scared of house or forest fire (which I’ve also had the wonderful experience of–twice).
Earthquakes scare the everloving bejeezus out of me, worse one was in Mexico city, top floor hotel and got flung across the room.
I was working in the Union Bank building in the '80s when a strong quake hit…148M tall, and our office was on the 35th floor. It was rock ‘n’ roll. You could hear the girders groan.
But that’s a building designed to resist an earthquake. Historical buildings are not. Quakes or magnitude 5 or 6 are MAJOR earthquakes around here. For sure, the magnitudes are the same scale around the world. But housing stock is older, damage can be greater for a relatively milder earthquake. Since magnitude 6+ quakes are more common in other regions around the world, the old buildings which could not resist them are long gone. And the rebuilding has been (allegedly) done more resistant.
That’s the overall consensus for engineers and geologists. In the end, it all depends on how close if the earthquake origin to people. Being on top of a magnitude 5 earthquake and on unfavorable soil may be enough for a bad outcome.
Exception to the rule is Turkey.