Buzz
When the bombs drop, the world will be irreparably altered. For decades, the shadow of that fear will loom over every second. The entire planet will live in the constant dread that one person could push a button and unleash a nuclear apocalypse.
We don't think about it much anymore. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the specter of widespread nuclear destruction has become little more than a backdrop for films and video games. But the danger is far from gone. The weapons still exist, waiting for the wrong person to make the call. And there will always be new adversaries to target.
Researchers have conducted numerous tests and simulations to predict what life would be like following a nuclear attack. Some will survive, but existence in the charred remains of a shattered world will be completely transformed.
10. Black Rain Will Pour Down
Moments after the nuclear bombs detonate, a torrential black rain will descend. This won't be a light shower cleansing the air or cooling the flames. Instead, it will be thick, black blobs, resembling oil, and they could be deadly.
In Hiroshima, the black rain began to fall just 20 minutes after the bomb exploded. It spread across a 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius from ground zero, drenching the landscape with a viscous liquid that carried up to 100 times the radiation of standing at the bomb's epicenter.
The cities surrounding the survivors were engulfed in flames, consuming the very oxygen around them, and thirst had already set in. Desperate for water, many survivors opened their mouths, attempting to drink the strange, radioactive rain pouring down from the sky.
The radiation in that rain was potent enough to alter the blood of those who came into contact with it. Its effects were so severe that the remnants of that radiation can still be found today in the areas where it fell. If another bomb strikes, there's every reason to believe this could happen again.
9. An Electromagnetic Pulse Will Cut Off All Electricity
When a nuclear blast occurs, it can release a surge of electromagnetic radiation powerful enough to disrupt electrical systems—or even disable the entire electric grid of a nation.
During one nuclear test, the electromagnetic pulse from detonating a single bomb was so intense that it knocked out streetlights, televisions, and telephones in homes located 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away from ground zero. This was an unintended consequence, but since then, bombs have been intentionally designed to do this.
If a bomb crafted to trigger an electromagnetic pulse were detonated 400–480 kilometers (250–300 miles) above a country like the United States, the entire electrical grid would be knocked out.
Once the bombs drop, the lights will go dark. Every refrigerator storing food will stop working. All data on computers will be erased. Even more critically, water treatment plants will fail, and clean drinking water will vanish.
It is estimated that it would take about six months of intense effort to restore a country after its systems are completely shut down. However, this assumes people are still able to work. For an extended period following the bombs, we can expect to live without power—and without clean water.
8. Smoke Will Block Out The Sun
The areas around ground zero will be hit with an immense amount of energy, igniting everything that can catch fire. Buildings, forests, plastic, and even the asphalt on the roads will all burn. Oil refineries—targets during the Cold War—will erupt in flames.
The infernos consuming the nuclear bomb targets will produce thick, toxic smoke that will rise into the atmosphere and eventually reach the upper stratosphere. A massive, dark cloud will form 15 kilometers (9 miles) above the Earth's surface, moving with the wind, eventually covering the globe and blocking out sunlight.
In the years following a nuclear disaster, stepping outside will mean facing a permanent overcast. For a long time, the Sun will be hidden, with only dark clouds overhead. It's difficult to predict exactly when the sky will clear, but in a full nuclear apocalypse, it's thought that it could take up to 30 years before we see the blue sky again.
7. It Will Be Too Cold To Grow Food
With the Sun blocked from view, global temperatures will plummet. Depending on the scale of the nuclear strikes, this could cause a catastrophic drop in temperature. In the most severe cases, the Earth's temperature could fall by as much as 20 degrees Celsius (36 °F).
In the event of a full nuclear apocalypse, the first year will pass without any summer. The weather during growing seasons will resemble winter or a particularly harsh fall. Growing food will become nearly impossible. Animals will perish, and crops will shrivel and die.
This won't mark the beginning of a new ice age. For the first five years, killing frosts will shorten growing seasons by a month. However, things will eventually stabilize, and the temperature will return to normal after about 25 years. Life will continue—if we can survive long enough to witness it.
6. The Ozone Layer Will Be Shattered
Life won't fully return to normal. A year after the bombs detonate, the aftermath of our tainted atmosphere will begin to tear a hole in the ozone layer. This will have catastrophic consequences. Even a small nuclear conflict, involving just 0.03 percent of the global arsenal, could destroy up to 50 percent of the ozone layer.
The planet will suffer from extreme UV radiation. Plants will perish, and the surviving life forms will endure crippling genetic mutations. Even the hardiest crops will become weaker, smaller, and increasingly unable to reproduce.
When the sky clears and the world begins to warm again, growing food will become a nearly impossible task. Entire fields will die when people attempt to grow crops, and farmers who work too long under the harsh sun will meet agonizing deaths from skin cancer.
5. Billions Of People Will Starve
In the event of a full-scale nuclear apocalypse, it will take about five years before any meaningful food production is possible. With freezing temperatures, lethal frosts, and intense UV radiation from the blocked-out sky, very few crops will survive long enough to be harvested. Billions will perish from starvation.
Those who manage to survive will need to find alternative sources of food, but this will be far from easy. Coastal dwellers might have a slight advantage as the oceans will take longer to cool. Still, marine life will be scarce.
The darkness from the obscured sky will wipe out plankton, the fundamental food source that sustains life in the oceans. Additionally, radioactive contamination will flood the waters, decimating marine life and making any fish unsafe to consume.
The vast majority of those who survive the initial blasts won't make it through the first five years. With food in severe scarcity and competition fierce, most will perish.
4. Tightly Sealed Food Will Remain Safe For Consumption
One of the key ways to survive the first five years is by relying on bottled and canned food. As shown in fiction, sealed packages will remain safe to eat even after the nuclear apocalypse.
In an experiment, scientists exposed bottled beer and soda to a nuclear explosion. The outside of the bottles absorbed intense radiation, but the contents inside stayed safe. Only the drinks closest to ground zero turned radioactive, and even these weren't lethal. The researchers who tasted them said the flavor was 'definitely off.'
Canned food is expected to remain as safe as bottled drinks. Additionally, water from deep underground wells may still be drinkable. The fight for survival will come down to controlling rural wells and canned food—the last lifeline for humanity.
3. Some People Will Survive
Billions will perish in the nuclear holocaust. Around 500 million will die immediately in the blasts of the war, with even more falling victim to starvation or freezing in the harsh new world that follows.
However, there’s hope that a small number of survivors will endure. It won’t be many, but it's a more optimistic view of the post-apocalyptic future than we had in the 1980s. Back then, experts believed that humanity would be wiped out entirely. Now, we believe a few will make it through.
In 25 to 30 years, the skies will clear, temperatures will stabilize, and life will begin to rebound. Plants will start to grow again. Though they may not be as abundant as before, after a few decades, the world could resemble modern Chernobyl, where dense forests now cover the ruins of a long-dead city.
Life will persist, and humanity will strive to rebuild. However, the world we once knew will never return.
2. Expect Violent Storms
In the first two to three years of perpetual cold and darkness, the Earth will be ravaged by storms more intense than anything we’ve ever experienced.
The debris sent into the stratosphere won’t only block out the Sun—it will also disrupt the weather. This will alter cloud formation, making them far more capable of producing heavy rain. Until the world settles back into a normal state, we can expect near-constant rainfall and severe storms to pummel the Earth.
The situation will be even grimmer near the oceans. While the Earth's temperature will quickly drop into a nuclear winter, the oceans will take far longer to cool. These still relatively warm waters will fuel devastating storms along the coastlines. Hurricanes and typhoons will strike the world’s shores with destructive force, continuing for years.
1. Chemical Radiation Will Penetrate Our Bones
Even if survivors manage to find food, they will still be plagued by widespread cancer. Just after the bombs detonate, radioactive particles will be released into the atmosphere and later settle everywhere. Though invisible and dispersed, these particles will be deadly.
One such chemical is strontium-90, which the body mistakes for calcium when inhaled or ingested. This toxic substance is then carried straight to the bone marrow and teeth, where it causes debilitating bone cancer.
Surviving the effects of these radioactive particles might depend more on timing than luck. It’s unclear how long it will take for the particles to descend. But if it takes enough time, survival becomes possible.
If the particles don’t settle for two weeks, their radiation will decrease by 1,000 times, making survival likely. Although cancer rates will soar, lifespans will shorten, and birth defects will become commonplace, humanity won’t be entirely wiped out.
