C3 solar flare with earth-directed CME

Thursday, 22 April 2021 17:23 UTC

2816 produced a C3 solar flare (with Type II and IV sweeps) at 04:35 UTC. A faint partial halo CME can be seen leaving the Sun on SOHO. The plasma cloud likely has an earth-directed component that could arrive late on Sunday, 25 April. Major storm activity is however unlikely. pic.twitter.com/60svLUbjBf

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) April 22, 2021

A faint and fairly slow partial halo coronal mass ejection (CME) can be seen leaving the Sun as we can see in the tweet above courtesy of SOHO. We see a fairly wide partial halo coronal mass ejection. The bulk of the cloud seems to be heading east/south-east but there is likely an earth-directed component that could arrive late on Sunday, 25 April. The NOAA SWPC has yet to publish a prediction for this event but considering the slow speed and faint halo signature, we do not expect much geomagnetic activity once the plasma cloud passes our planet. Active geomagnetic conditions (Kp4) are likely with a chance of minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions under optimal conditions. Sunspot region 2816 has been decaying slightly but there remains some magnetic mixing among the leading sunspots. More C-class activity is possible but M-class activity is not likely at this time.

Sunspot region 2817

The C3 solar flare from sunspot region 2816 is of course today's space weather highlight but departing sunspot region 2817 is really doing its best to grab our attention. While on the limb, it has been actively producing C-class solar flares. At the time of writing it has been responsible for 8 C-class solar flares but none of them seems to have been eruptive. An interesting development but a shame this region will soon transit the far side.