The Sofa of Solar Cycle 25
Dear <<First Name>>,
Finally, a consistent uptick in activity! For nearly the whole month of May there has been something interesting to talk about in space weather and this week is no different. In fact, it might be the most interesting yet! Over the past week we have had a new M-flare player take center stage. This sunspot cluster, named region 2824, fired two M-class flares (officially) and around 16 C-class flares all within the span of a few days. (I've seen some arguing on social media saying there were actually three M-class flares, with one of the C-class flares teetering on the edge of M-class.) No matter what the final count is, I think we can all agree this is no longer a solar minimum Sun. Add to this the near M4-flare we had back on May 7, and it is pretty clear we will look back on this period as the time when our Sun began settling into the new cycle.
On top of all this action, we've also been machine-gunned when it comes to solar storms. If you haven't yet seen this week's forecast, you're in for a treat. But don't worry, it turns out these storms have been pretty mild thus far (the prediction of a G2-level impact is turning out to be an over-estimation). What cannot be denied is that we are seeing a consistent rise in activity on the Sun this month. The last time we saw this much action was back in the November-December 2020 time-frame. That was when solar flux shot up from the low 70s to over 100 in less than a week! Although I cannot guarantee activity will stay this high, chances are that any quiet spell we might dip into will be even shorter than this last one was. So, just as in the picture above, grab some cushy pillows and make yourself a comfortable place on the sofa of Solar Cycle 25. It looks like we are finally settling in.
Cheers,
Tamitha
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Rapid Fire Solar Storms Headed Earth's Way | Solar Storm Forecast 05.25.20201
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