Space Weather is nothing new

Especially in the Auroral zone, effects of space weather has been well known for more than 100 years.

Already in the 1880s Sophus Tromholt started gathering information from telegraph stations all over Norway in order to study the effect on these from phenomena in the upper atmosphere. The Norwegian Polar Station at Bossekop during 1882-83 did similar registrations, possibly in collaboration with him, to study in conjunction with their geomagnetic measurements.

Shortly after his relocation to Bergen in 1928, Professor Ole Andreas Krogness, initiated a collaboration with the tram ways in the City in order to reduce the effect of what they termed Vagabond currents in their power lines. Vagabond currents is what we today refer to as Geomagnetic Induced Currents (GIC), which is a well known space weather problem. Rapid changes in Earth’s magnetic field occurs owing to alternating currents flowing in the ionosphere. These changes will induce currents in the ground and in power lines and other man-made infrastructure and this may have fatal consequences.

As an example I am posting a picture of a couple of vacuum tubes removed from power plants in Finnmark after geomagnetic disturbances in 1940!

I must say I prefer the term Vagabond current to GIC, though!