I'm not at all sure about Ed Dames. The notion that a CME would kill us by "cooking" us, as he describes it, is more than a little bit far-fetched. However, a direct hit by a CME is a serious matter because of how technology dependent we are and how that technology would be affected. This article in New Scientist describes such a scenario:
Space storm alert: 90 seconds from catastrophe
Quote:
There are two problems to face. The first is the modern electricity grid, which is designed to operate at ever higher voltages over ever larger areas. Though this provides a more efficient way to run the electricity networks, minimising power losses and wastage through overproduction, it has made them much more vulnerable to space weather. The high-power grids act as particularly efficient antennas, channelling enormous direct currents into the power transformers.
The second problem is the grid's interdependence with the systems that support our lives: water and sewage treatment, supermarket delivery infrastructures, power station controls, financial markets and many others all rely on electricity. Put the two together, and it is clear that a repeat of the Carrington event could produce a catastrophe the likes of which the world has never seen. "It's just the opposite of how we usually think of natural disasters," says John Kappenman, a power industry analyst with the Metatech Corporation of Goleta, California, and an advisor to the NAS committee that produced the report. "Usually the less developed regions of the world are most vulnerable, not the highly sophisticated technological regions."
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Full article at the above link.
If Dames is right about the Nevada earthquake in 5 or 6 months, I'll start paying more attention to what he says.