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March 24–25, 1940
Hall of storms · #5 / 10

The Easter Sunday storm

Peak Kp
Kp 9.0
G5 — top storm class
Peak moment
15:00 UTC
March 24, 1940
Duration
2 days
March 24–25, 1940
At the ceiling
9.0 ×2
2 intervals at Kp 9.0
The storm, three hours at a time

How long did it hold, and when did it peak?

27 hours at G4 or above · 69 at G1 or above
Three-hourly Kp values (UTC)
Time (UTC)KpSource
Mar 23 · 00:00 UTC1.0measured
Mar 23 · 03:00 UTC2.7measured
Mar 23 · 06:00 UTC5.0measured
Mar 23 · 09:00 UTC6.0measured
Mar 23 · 12:00 UTC4.0measured
Mar 23 · 15:00 UTC4.3measured
Mar 23 · 18:00 UTC5.0measured
Mar 23 · 21:00 UTC7.3measured
Mar 24 · 00:00 UTC6.3measured
Mar 24 · 03:00 UTC6.0measured
Mar 24 · 06:00 UTC5.0measured
Mar 24 · 09:00 UTC4.3measured
Mar 24 · 12:00 UTC8.0measured
Mar 24 · 15:00 UTC9.0measured
Mar 24 · 18:00 UTC9.0measured
Mar 24 · 21:00 UTC8.3measured
Mar 25 · 00:00 UTC8.7measured
Mar 25 · 03:00 UTC8.3measured
Mar 25 · 06:00 UTC8.3measured
Mar 25 · 09:00 UTC8.0measured
Mar 25 · 12:00 UTC7.0measured
Mar 25 · 15:00 UTC4.7measured
Mar 25 · 18:00 UTC6.7measured
Mar 25 · 21:00 UTC8.0measured
Mar 26 · 00:00 UTC7.3measured
Mar 26 · 03:00 UTC6.0measured
Mar 26 · 06:00 UTC4.7measured
Mar 26 · 09:00 UTC2.7measured
Mar 26 · 12:00 UTC2.3measured
Mar 26 · 15:00 UTC3.7measured
Mar 26 · 18:00 UTC6.3measured
Mar 26 · 21:00 UTC2.7measured
under 3 · quiet3 to G1 · activeG1–G4 · stormG5 · extreme

Each bar is a three-hour UTC slot · lines at each 00 UTC · shaded days are the storm itself · GFZ definitive Kp.

What it reached

North America — telegraph and power disturbances across the US

Open in the archive
March 1940 — the three-hourly Kp values, day by day
From the ground
The Night It Broke — one substorm at Skaftafell, minute by minute
What a night like this looks like to a photographer standing under it.
Replay
Replay this night’s sky in the simulator — from the archive’s eight Kp values
Kp only; that night’s cloud and darkness are not in the archive — no verdict.
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