The May 1921 geomagnetic storm was a significant event caused by the impact of an extraordinarily powerful coronal mass ejection on Earth's magnetosphere. It took place on 13 through 15 May, and was part of solar cycle 15. This event occurred before extensive interconnectivity of electrical systems and the general electrical dependency across infrastructures in the developed world, so the effect was restricted to certain sectors, even though resulting ground currents were up to an order of magnitude greater than those of the March 1989 geomagnetic storm that blacked out large parts of northeastern North America. At the time, scientists gave the size of the sunspot that began on May 10th and caused the storm as 94,000 by 21,000 miles (131,000 km by 33,800 km) in size.

Northern lights appeared in much of the eastern United States, creating brightly lit night skies. Telegraph service in the United States was slowed and then virtually eliminated around midnight of the 14th due to blown fuses, and damaged equipment. On the other hand, radio waves were strengthened during the storm due to ionosphere activation, allowing for some strong intercontinental reception. Electric lights did not seem to have been noticeably affected. Undersea cables also suffered from the storm. Damage to telegraph systems were also reported in Europe and the southern hemisphere.

May 13, 1921 – The New York Railroad Storm

At 7:04 AM on May 15, the entire signal and switching system of the New York Central Railroad below 125th street was put out of operation, followed by a fire in the control tower at 57th Street and Park Avenue. Railroad officials formally assigned blame for a fire destroyed the Central New England Railroad station, to the aurora. Telegraph Operator Hatch said that he was actually driven away from his telegraph instrument by a flame that enveloped his switchboard and ignited the entire building at a loss of $6,000. Over seas, in Sweden a telephone station was ‘burned out’, and the storm interfered with telephone, telegraph and cable traffic over most of Europe. Auroras were visible in the Eastern United States, with additional reports from Pasadena California where the aurora reached zenith.

What caused the fires? Electrical currents induced by geomagnetic activity surged through telephone and telegraph lines, heating them to the point of combustion. Strong currents disrupted telegraph systems in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the UK and USA. The Ottawa Journal reported that many long-distance telephone lines in New Brunswick were burned out by the storm. On some telegraph lines in the USA voltages spiked as high as 1000 V.