The Carrington Event and earlier storms

The eighteen fifty-nine Carrington Event was long thought the first extreme space weather event. But reports emerged of telegraph disruptions from the late eighteen forties.

An 1841 railway delay claim

An anonymous eighteen seventy-one Nature article described a magnetic disturbance that delayed an express train in Exeter, England in October eighteen forty-one.

The date doesn't match the tracks

Jim Wild of Lancaster University and colleagues found the South Devon Railway between Exeter and Plymouth wasn't approved until July eighteen forty-four and opened May thirty, eighteen forty-six.

Identifying the anonymous author

Wild's team traced the article to Nathaniel John Holmes, an electrical engineer involved in undersea telegraph cables. Holmes lived near Nature editor Sir Norman Lockyer.

No evidence for eighteen forty-one

Greenwich Observatory records showed no unusual magnetic activity on October eighteen, eighteen forty-one. But strong geomagnetic storms occurred around October eighteen, eighteen forty-eight.

The typo theory confirmed

Railway timetables showed a ten oh-five pm express train from Exeter ran between March eighteen forty-eight and July eighteen forty-nine. Wild's team concluded eighteen forty-one was a typographical error.

An earlier storm takes the record

With eighteen forty-eight confirmed, the earliest documented space weather affecting technology is a March eighteen forty-seven incident of spontaneous electrical currents disrupting telegraph systems on the Midland Railway.

Why this history matters today

Understanding past geomagnetic storms helps scientists predict and mitigate damage from future events. A storm like Carrington today would cripple power grids and satellite communications.

“Space weather is often discussed as a modern challenge because of our dependence on technologies such as satellites, communications systems and electricity networks.”