Aurora were only predicted to Illinois, IIRC. That's not a strong enough hit to cause a Carrington event. And the sunspot that caused it wasn't pointed at the earth. I'm sure the radio blackout was alarming but that's just x-rays and not 100% reliably indicative of the amount and speed of the particles ejected. Although the larger X-Class flares tend to send out more mass, this was just an X-1 and the Carrington event is estimated to have been an X45. Carry on with the prepping, though, we are overdue.
