The Carrington Event of 1859 is widely recognized as the first recorded extreme space weather event, but reports of geomagnetic storms interfering with telegraph equipment date back to the late 1840s. In 2013, researchers discovered an anonymous 1871 Nature article describing a 'very intense magnetic disturbance' that disrupted rail travel in Exeter in October 1841. If accurate, this would have been the earliest known account of space weather affecting a technological system.
However, a new paper in Space Weather argues that the 1841 date is almost certainly a typographical error. The researchers conclude that the railway disruption actually occurred several years later, though the precise date remains unspecified in the study as reported.
'Space weather is often discussed as a modern challenge because of our dependence on technologies such as satellites, communications systems and electricity networks,' said co-author Jim Wild of Lancaster University. 'What this study shows is that society has been experiencing the effects of space weather on technology for almost as long as electrical technologies have existed. The Exeter train delay is a fascinating story because it sits right at the point where emerging technologies first began to encounter the realities of the space environment.'
The Carrington Event, which remains the most powerful geomagnetic storm on record, caused auroras visible worldwide and led to sparking and fires in telegraph stations. Operators even found they could transmit messages using only the auroral current after disconnecting their power supplies. The new findings do not diminish the significance of that event but correct a long-running historical puzzle.