On the news last night they were saying not to touch things that were metal and long like Oil pipelines because of geomagnetic plasma which could theoretically electrocute someone touching a long metal object like an oil pipeline. They were also worried about long distance power lines having the same problem. I actually have never heard of auroras coming as far south as Florida since the 1859 Carrington event which caused Fires on Telegraph Lines in the 1850s. So, this is something NEW? that I have never seen before in my lifetime. However, in 1989 an Aurora hit in Canada and knocked an electrical power plant off and many people lost power and I also heard more recently about something that happened in South Africa too.
Interestingly enough, our heating system and air conditioning system went offline this week too so we have had to make do with Two electric Heaters from Home Depot also. The Heating guy said that Surge protectors are required on all new Heating and Air Conditioning systems because of odd power outages from various sources also. When we arrived not only our heating system wasn't working but also our DVR for the main TV in our den here. My Daughter mentioned that turning off the main breaker for the house might reset everything. However, being actually raised by my Electrical Contracting Father I knew that this was an iffy proposition because of the way electronics function these days with so many things 12 volts or under around the house. However, I finally did what she recommended and the heater and the DVR all reset themselves so at least this time it worked. However, when the heating guys arrived they said that the coolant to the air conditioning had drained and so that part of the system wasn't working. And the way that heat pumps are designed now your heating and cooling units likely share many electrical circuits so they had to turn the heating unit off again to fix the Cooling system we need for summer.
So, did the Solar Storm take out out heater too or did a strange power outage take it out? Not sure at this point. I suppose we might never know. But, if you do what I did which was to shut down your main power breaker for 30 seconds or more it might (MIGHT) reset everything after this solar storm for you too. However, there is no guarantee because many electronics are now very fickle because of their low voltage these days too.
Also, they saw auroras as far south as the Bahamas which is pretty incredible too!
HERE ARE SOME GOOGLE IMAGES OF THE 2024 AURORA BOREALIS IN MT. SHASTA:
