Fast Wind Comes Before Flares Return | Space Weather News 09.02.2022

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.