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On March 13, 1989, a geomagnetic storm collapsed Quebec's entire power grid in just 90 seconds — leaving 6 million people in the cold and dark before most of them had even woken up

A coronal mass ejection on March 13, 1989, caused the entire Hydro-Quebec grid to fail in 90 seconds. The blackout left 6 million people without power for nine hours during freezing winter temperatures. The event highlighted a lasting vulnerability in North American infrastructure.

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Added specific timing, duration, and technical cause of the grid failure.

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  1. 1989 Geomagnetic Storm Collapsed Quebec Power Grid

    A coronal mass ejection on March 13, 1989, caused the entire Hydro-Quebec grid to fail in 90 seconds. The blackout left 6 million people without power for nine hours during freezing winter temperatures. The event highlighted a lasting vulnerability in North American infrastructure.

    What's confirmed:

    • A geomagnetic storm collapsed Quebec's entire power grid in 90 seconds on March 13, 1989.
    • The failure left 6 million people without power.
    • The blackout lasted nine hours.
    • The grid collapse was triggered by a coronal mass ejection.
    • The event occurred at 2:44 a.m. Eastern time.
    • Solar storms induce electric currents in long metal such as power lines, pipelines, and undersea internet cables.

    Still unconfirmed:

    • A surge of electric current through the bedrock under Quebec tripped a single capacitor at the James Bay hydroelectric complex.
    • Outside temperatures were hovering near minus 15 Celsius.
    • Some people worried a nuclear first strike was in progress due to intense auroras.
    • The storm resulted from two separate coronal mass ejections on March 10 and 12, 1989.
    confidence 95%