Our long wait is finally over this week as the fast solar wind from a large coronal hole is finally arriving as I make this forecast public! We have hit active conditions already and guaranteed more is on the way. Aurora is beginning to build now in Scotland and over the UK with promises of more to come! aurora photographers at both high-latitudes and mid-latitudes should ready their cameras as this could be the biggest show we will see for easily a month or more. GPS users should also take note of this storm as it will affect GPS reception anywhere near aurora, especially on Earth’s nightside and near the dawn and dusk terminators. Amateur radio operators might get a small boost to radio propagation on Earth’s dayside from the solar storm, but at nighttime, expect sporadic propagation across most bands until after the solar storm passes, which will be through the weekend. Learn the details of this solar storm hitting now, when and where to see aurora, and what else our Sun has in store!

Our Sun keeps our attention focused even though space weather remains reasonably quiet this week. We have had several bright regions appear in Earth-view. The largest of these regions was strong enough to be officially designated as a sunspot (region 2749) from Solar Cycle 24. But then two high latitude bright regions emerged, one in the north and one in the south. These two regions both had Solar Cycle 25 polarity, which means this is one of the rare moments when we have active regions from two different solar cycles in both the northern and southern hemispheres in view at the same time! Unfortunately, if you blinked, you missed this rarity, as the new regions faded quite quickly. As a result, the solar flux has remained low and radio propagation continues to be poor on Earth’s dayside. We do have a remnant coronal hole rotating through the Earth-strike zone now. Its been sending us some sporadic fast solar wind, which has bumped us up to active conditions sporadically. However, aurora views are expected to be sporadic and elusive, especially at mid-latitudes. Take a closer look at the ongoing solar activity, including the new active regions, see how the fast solar wind hitting now will affect you, and learn about the meteor that nearly hit the ground in Southern California this week!

Just like terrestrial weather on Earth, Space Weather can be as mild as a rainstorm or as wild as a hurricane. Let The Space Weather Woman and a vibrant community of field reporters show you in non-science jargon how this new kind of weather impacts your daily life. You will never look at the Sun or the Earth in the same way again. After all, Space Weather is just like the weather in your own backyard, it’s just a little further up.