Our Sun switches gears this week as the set of active regions that gave us some big flares and radio blackouts last week rotates to the Sun’s farside and a dark coronal hole begins to rotate into the Earth-strike zone. This means radio communications on Earth’s dayside will improve, and aurora possibilities on Earth’s nightside increase. Fast solar wind is expected to hit Earth starting around the 19th and could bring aurora down into mid-latitudes for a short while. Aurora photographers at high latitudes have a better chance as a glancing passage for a solar storm could enhance conditions starting even earlier, possibly by late on the 17th. GPS users should stay vigilant around dawn and dusk and anywhere near aurora over the next few days as it could impact signal reception. Lean the details of the coming fast solar wind and the glancing solar storm blow (the specific NASA solar storm model run I reference can be found here: https://iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov/downloads/20221114_102400_2.0_anim.tim-den.gif ), find out where aurora may be visible, and see why amateur radio operators smile while GPS users stay cautiously optimistic this week. Want early access to these forecasts, tutorials on Space Weather, & more? Visit: https://patreon.com/SpaceweatherWoman

With Hurricane Ian impacting Florida this week, we really needed the Sun to stay quiet, but no such luck. We have some incoming fast solar wind along with a grazing passage of a solar storm that together could bump us up to G2-levels (possibly G3-levels/Kp7 at high latitudes) over the next few days. This means amateur radio operators should expect communication disruptions on Earth’s nightside over this next week. Along with radio blackouts on Earth’s dayside due to several big-flare players, this week could be challenging for the Hurricane Watch Nets. On the bright side, aurora photographers should enjoy some beautiful aurora shows deep into mid-latitudes clear through October 3. Learn the details of the coming fast solar wind and glancing solar storm blow, discover why this could give us some strong storming possibilities, and see what else our Sun has in store this week. Want early access to these forecasts, tutorials on Space Weather, & more? Visit: https://patreon.com/SpaceweatherWoman

This week we say goodbye to big flare player region 3098 and hello to region 3102 as we wait for even bigger flare player, old region 3089 to rotate back into Earth-view. This means we are getting a slight reprieve when it comes to radio blackouts from big flares on Earth’s dayside. Amateur radio operators and GPS users should breathe a sigh of relief as dayside disruptions should be significantly reduced this week. Radio noise remains an issue but propagation should remain in the good range. We do have a coronal hole rotating into the Earth-strike zone, which will bring us some fast solar wind through the weekend, but it will be comparatively mild compared to what we experienced at the beginning of September. Aurora photographers at high latitudes have a decent chance of aurora shows, but photographers at mid-latitudes will only have sporadic shows through the weekend. Learn more about the new flare players rotating into view, find out when and where aurora might be visible, and see why satellite operators must remain vigilant this week. Want early access to these forecasts, tutorials on Space Weather, & more? Visit: https://patreon.com/SpaceweatherWoman

This week our Sun is trading big flare-players for a nice chance for aurora. We say goodbye to region 3088 as it rotates off the Sun’s west limb and to the farside. Guaranteed we will keep a close watch on it to see whether it survives the next two weeks and will return. Meanwhile we have a large coronal hole that will be sending us some fast solar wind starting around September 4th. Last month this coronal hole bumped us to G2-level storm conditions and there is a good chance it will do the same this time as well. Aurora photographers should get ready for a decent show, even down to mid-latitudes as we could see some sustained views ramping up late September 3, peaking on September 4 through 5, and then ramping down through September 6 and 7. Overall, this could make up for some of the solar storm fizzles we have seen from the big flare players (who obviously have very bad aim). Amateur radio operators and GPS users may get a bit of a reprieve on Earth’s dayside from radio blackouts this week, but once the solar storm hits, expect signal disruptions on Earth’s nightside, especially anywhere near aurora. Learn the details of the coming solar storm, watch region 3088 rotate out of view with a bang, & see why the radio-quiet conditions will not last for long, with new regions about to rotate into view.

Our Sun lights up this week with two big flare players that have the X-factor. Regions 3088 and 3089 have been firing big solar flares over the past few days causing R1-R2 level radio blackouts on Earth’s dayside. In addition, region 3088 has been launching partly Earth-directed solar storms. These storms are expected to graze Earth to the west in back-to-back fashion, late on August 28. However, we are feeling the effect of earlier mini-solar storms now, in fact we bumped up to active conditions once already and could even get sporadic aurora shows that intensify up to when the larger storms hit. Aurora photographers could get a show clear down to mid-latitudes around August 29. Amateur radio operators should expect noise on the bands and radio blackouts on Earth’s dayside and GPS users should stay vigilant for reception issues near dawn and dusk and anywhere near aurora over the next few days at least. Learn the details of the coming solar storms, when and where to see aurora, see why the big-flare players are making life difficult for amateur radio and GPS users, and find out what else our Sun has in store this week. 

This week our Sun calms down a bit, but still gives us mixed bag of active regions, coronal holes and solar eye candy. We have multiple active regions on the Earth-facing disk, including a big-flare player. Luckily, this region has been underperforming. The good news is that solar flux is finally back into the triple digits, which means decent radio propagation again on Earth’s dayside and along with the reasonably low risk for radio blackouts, amateur radio operators as well as GPS users should enjoy better than average signal reception (and transmission). Although we arent expecting any strong storming with the coronal hole rotating into the Earth-strike zone now, we are keeping our eyes are on the East limb of the Sun where new regions are poised to rotate into view and a massive prominence towers over the horizon. This prominence is barely hanging on as it rotates closer to the Earth-Strike zone. If it manages to hang on over the next day or so, it could erupt as a partially Earth-directed solar storm. However, as of this writing, it looks like the structure is in the process of erupting now. Learn the details of the coming fast solar wind, find out more about the big-flare player, and watch the huge prominence as it clings to life over the Sun’s East limb.

This week our Sun turns up the volume and the beauty as it launches not one but two Earth-directed solar storms. The first of these cartwheels off the Sun during launch in a graceful ballet, one that will make its magnetic field orientation hard to predict when it arrives at Earth. NASA predictions show the first storm will arrive early on July 19 with the second one arriving mid-morning on the 20th (UTC time). This means we will get a 1,2-punch that could bring aurora down to mid-latitudes for several days! Aurora photographers be sure to should keep your batteries charged and cameras at the ready. Amateur radio operators have a mixed bag this week as we have many big-flare players in Earth view. This means solar flux is staying well into the triple digits and radio propagation on Earth’s dayside s good, but radio blackouts are on the menu. GPS users should also stay vigilant as the high solar flux and radio blackouts make GPS reception a bit dicey, especially near dawn and dusk. Also, once the solar storms hit, GPS users should stay away from aurora on Earth’s nightside. Learn the details of the coming solar storms, see the gorgeous filament eruption, and find out which big-flare regions regions are the bad actors this week! Want early access to these forecasts, tutorials on Space Weather, & more? Visit: https://patreon.com/SpaceweatherWoman

This week our Sun switches gears and brings big flare players back into Earth view. Several of these regions have X-flare potential, but thus far have only been firing M-class flares. Solar flux also rises well into the 150s, even into the 160s at times. This means radio propagation is back into the good range on Earth’s dayside, although the noise floor is also rising right along with the solar flux. Expect the bands to be noisy this week, not only because of the flare activity, but also because we have been dealing with a waning radiation storm over the past few days. In addition, we have some potential for solar storming due to a glancing solar storm passage and possibly some fast solar wind hitting Earth over the next few days. GPS users should stay vigilant pretty much everywhere on the globe until all this activity dies down, while aurora photographers at high latitudes could get a nice show over much of the week. Learn how much solar storming to expect this week, see the details on the new big-flare players, and find out what else our Sun has in store.

Just as we are calming down from one solar storm, our Sun sends us another! Although this solar storm is wispy and slow, it is rather large and could give us some decent aurora possibilities this week. NASA predictions indicate it should hit Earth around mid-day on July 1. Aurora photographers at high-latitudes should get some decent views through the weekend. Mid-latitudes might be a bit more sporadic (if at all) due to the slowness and wispy nature of this solar storm. Solar flux has taken a hit this week, dropping back into the mid-90s for the first time in a few weeks. Amateur radio operators will likely notice radio propagation worsening a bit. Sadly, these conditions will continue easily over the July 4th holiday (in the USA) and possibly continue through next week as well before things improve. One nice thing is that GPS reception conditions are improving, even at low latitudes due to the lower solar flux and low risk for radio blackouts. However, GPS users should stay vigilant once the solar storm hits, especially near dawn and dusk and anywhere near aurora. Learn the details of the coming solar storm and see what else our Sun has in store!

This week our Sun displays some explosive growth as we switch from a nearly spotless Sun last week to having at least eight active regions on the Earth-facing disk. Several of these are big-flare players with region 3031 being the one to watch at the moment. In addition, back on the 13th region 3030 launched an impressive solar storm that grazed Earth to the East, but the impact was minor and short-lived. Now we are coming down from the effects of that solar storm and dealing with some unsettled wind in the wake of the storm. Aurora photographers at high latitudes should continue to get some light aurora views through the weekend, but photographers at mid-latitudes will likely need to wait for the next storm to launch. GPS users should remain vigilant near dawn and dusk as radio blackouts will continue to be an issue over this next week, but amateur radio operators will appreciate the boosted solar flux that will keep dayside radio propagation in the green all week. Learn the details of the big flare players, the solar storm near miss, and see what else the Sun has in store this week. Want early access to these forecasts, tutorials on Space Weather, & more? Visit: https://patreon.com/SpaceweatherWoman