A Stormy Side Swipe, Heart-Shaped Hole & Brighter Days Ahead | Solar Storm Forecast 01 October 2026

We have a solar storm that could side-swipe Earth over the next couple of days. Because the eruption was large and on the hairy edge of the Earth-strike zone, forecasting the strength of its impact at Earth is challenging. In this week’s Solar Storm Forecast I go over these in detail. In addition to the solar storm, we have more fast solar wind coming later this week due to the heart-shaped coronal hole that will be rotating into the Earth-strike zone starting October 3. Aurora photographers, especially at high latitudes could get some decent shows this week. We also have a cluster of active regions rotating back into Earth view. This means we could see solar flux rise back above 100, which should help radio propagation on the dayside. Radio operators should expect the noise to also rise on the dayside bands just a little, but overall the risk for radio blackouts should remain minor through the rest of this week.