Space Weather News has issued a warning on X overnight about an Earth-facing coronal hole that could eject fast-moving solar wind toward Earth, potentially triggering elevated geomagnetic activity, including auroras and geomagnetic storms. The high-speed stream is expected to reach Earth within days.
“Now THAT is a coronal hole. Whoa, momma,” Ben Davidson wrote for Space Weather News‘ X. He added: “Excess magnitude/volcanic watch is in play now. Solar wind enhancement expected Saturday/Sunday/Monday.”
Solarham, a solar storm monitoring website, warned, “The onset of a coronal hole stream was not expected until within the next few days.”
Solarham described the “Coronal Hole to Face Earth” that will begin impacting Earth this weekend:
A large coronal hole will begin to face Earth this weekend. A solar wind stream flowing from this zone is expected to reach Earth beginning July 12th with the main influence by July 13/14. It is possible that a geomagnetic storm watch will be issued in the days ahead.
As of Friday morning, Solarham data shows all quiet across the Western Hemisphere.
According to Earth Sky, the Earth’s magnetic field reached G1 (minor) storm conditions last night, as expected. Auroras were observed at high latitudes, such as those in the United States, including Maine and Michigan. Earth reached the Kp=5 threshold early today (4:33 UTC on July 13). The cause is a huge coronal hole on the sun, which reached a geoeffective position, a position capable of affecting Earth, a couple of days ago.
Now the fast solar wind from that hole has reached Earth, disturbing our world’s magnetic field. More G1 disturbance is predicted to occur during the day today, then to reduce to quieter levels as the fast solar wind effects wane.
This solar storm did not produce any Earth-facing CMEs (coronal mass ejections); however, the chance for M (moderate) flares increased from 50% to 65% today, and the chance for X (strong) flares increased from 5% to 15% today. These parameters increased due to AR4140’s sunspot activity.
H/T ZeroHedge
Read the full article here