Viewing archive of Saturday, 5 May 2018

Daily bulletin on solar and geomagnetic activity from the SIDC

Issued: 2018 May 05 1230 UTC

SIDC Forecast

Valid from 1230 UTC, 05 May 2018 until 07 May 2018
Solar flares

Quiet conditions (<50% probability of C-class flares)

Geomagnetism

Minor storm expected (A>=30 or K=5)

Solar protons

Quiet

10cm fluxAp
05 May 2018068015
06 May 2018069052
07 May 2018069040

Bulletin

Solar activity was very low with X ray flux remaining below B level. Catania sunspot group 79 was shortlived while Catania sunspot group 80 was numbered NOAA 2708 (Beta; McIntosh Cro). Another region is rotating on the disk in the Northern hemisphere. The chance for any C class flares remains very low.

No Earth directed CMEs have been detected in coronagraph data.

The solar proton flux levels are at background values and are expected to remain so.

A shock was observed in the solar wind at 9:27UT with solar wind speed jumping from 340 to 370 km/s and total magnetic field from under 4nT to close to 7nT. Afterwards a further increase to a peak of near 12.5nT was observed. Bz became more volatile with a peak down to -9.5 nT. The shock is probably related to the upcoming interaction region and high speed stream from a negative polarity coronal hole although the magnetic field phi angle currently still indicates connection to a positive sector. Magnetic field is expected to remain elevated and perturbed and probably rising further. This will be followed by a further increase of the solar wind speed as the high speed stream sets in.

Geomagnetic conditions were quiet (local K Dourbes 1-2 and NOAA Kp 0-1). Geomagnetic conditions are likely to increase to active and minor geomagnetic storm levels with the passage of a sector boundary crossing and co-rotating interaction region in the next 24 hours. They will remain elevated as the high speed stream continues.

Today's estimated international sunspot number (ISN): 014, based on 21 stations.

Solar indices for 04 May 2018

Wolf number Catania023
10cm solar flux068
AK Chambon La Forêt007
AK Wingst006
Estimated Ap004
Estimated international sunspot number012 - Based on 23 stations

Noticeable events summary

DayBeginMaxEndLocStrengthOP10cmCatania/NOAARadio burst types
None

Provided by the Solar Influences Data analysis Center© - SIDC - Processed by SpaceWeatherLive

All times in UTC

<< Go to daily overview page

Latest news

Support SpaceWeatherLive.com!

A lot of people come to SpaceWeatherLive to follow the Sun's activity or if there is aurora to be seen, but with more traffic comes higher server costs. Consider a donation if you enjoy SpaceWeatherLive so we can keep the website online!

Donate SpaceWeatherLive Pro
Support SpaceWeatherLive with our merchandise
Check out our merchandise

Latest alerts

Get instant alerts!

Space weather facts

Last X-flare2025/03/28X1.1
Last M-flare2025/04/01M2.4
Last geomagnetic storm2025/03/27Kp5 (G1)
Spotless days
Last spotless day2022/06/08
Monthly mean Sunspot Number
February 2025154.6 +17.6
April 2025147 -7.6
Last 30 days128.8 -21.8

This day in history*

Solar flares
12001X28.5
22001X2.01
32001X1.59
42014M9.35
52017M8.22
DstG
11960-272G3
21973-173G3
32001-101G1
41976-101G1
51994-96G3
*since 1994

Social networks