Goodbye Bright Flares, Hello Dark Hole: Solar Storm Forecast 01-31-2019

This week the Sun comes out of hibernation with a fast growing active region and a large coronal hole rotating into Earth view. Although the region (2733) never launched any Earth-directed solar storms, it nevertheless fired off a few C-class flares that no doubt made the HF radio bands a bit noisy.

The flares may have also made GPS a bit glitchy around the dawn-dusk terminators. However, this bright active region has also boosted the solar flux back into the marginal range for radio propagation. As we say goodbye to region 2733 as it rotates to the Sun’s backside, we say hello to the large coronal hole that is starting to rotate into the Earth-strike zone. Aurora photographers, especially at high latitudes should get a great show over the next few days, possibly in through the weekend.

Photographers at mid-latitudes, may not be quite as lucky, but there might be a chance for some sporadic aurora starting late Thursday and into Friday. Learn the details of the activity this week, catch up on aurora photos from recent solar storming, and see what else our Sun has in store.