There Are Storms A’Comin’!

Something new (to me) caught my eye this morning and brought an exclamation to my lips: the three-day geomagnetic forecast for today shows Purple!! This indicates some serious geomagnetic activity! Red is not uncommon, but Purple really got my attention!

The disturbance is due to an active sunspot area 31 times the size of earth! There are 3-4 CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) headed our way, arriving in the next day or two, which will likely make SWLing a bit difficult, if not causing at least momentary blackouts in some places.

On the upside, for those amateur radio folks who like working Auroral Skip, conditions are likely to be quite interesting in the VHF and above ranges.

SolarHam.net and SpaceweatherLive.com are both excellent sites to study solar activity, so give them a visit! 73, Robert K4PKM

Robert Gulley, K4PKM (formerly AK3Q), is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Robert also blogs at All Things Radio.