CME arrival? G1 geomagnetic storm

Thursday, 31 August 2017 08:56 UTC

This could be the anticipated coronal hole solar wind stream but the impact signature (sudden rise in speed, density, Bt) makes us suspicious that this might actually be the arrival of a coronal mass ejection. This isn’t as crazy of a theory as you might think it as we did spot a small partial halo coronal mass ejection back on the 28th that came from an eruption on western solar hemisphere. It could be arriving as a glancing blow right now with the coronal hole solar wind stream following in right behind it.

⇧ The partial halo coronal mass ejection from 28 August as seen by the SOHO/LASCO C2 coronagraph. 

Whatever it is we may be looking at, it is bringing us some interesting solar wind and IMF stats near Earth and if these values hold we should expect more storming during the remainder of this day. Sky watchers in the northern United States, southern New Zealand and Tasmania should be alert of enhanced auroral displays in the coming hours.

Minor G1 geomagnetic storm (Kp5)
Threshold Reached: 08:23 UTC
Follow live on https://t.co/Zkq26B89Y7 pic.twitter.com/AM0kKaPmfy

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) August 31, 2017