If the skies are clear, go outside- you just might see the aurora! Over the past 24 hours, NOAA SWPC has been warning that we may see a geomagnetic storm. Because the intensities of such storms are hard to predict, and because the recent spate of storms has been so weak, I have been very skeptical that we would see a “good one”, but right now, we’re seeing all the earmarks of a “real” space weather storm- one worth paying attention to! The storm has reached “G4” on NOAA’s geomagnetic storm scale, which is the 2nd most severe category. Here’s a quick summary of the last few hours:
| Value | Magnitude | Interpretation |
| KP | 8 | Very high activity, 9 is the highest that the Kp index can get! |
| DST | -150nT | More negative is stronger; watch to see if we hit -300nT |
| Solar Wind Speed | ~700km/s | Almost twice as fast as usual. |
| Solar Magnetic Field | BZ ~= -30nT | Strength of magnetic field in solar wind, more negative means more energy delivered to the Earth & aurora. |
So far, these are the kinds of numbers you associate with strong, possibly damaging storms. It will be interesting to watch the DST number; if it drops to -300nT, we’ve hit “super storm” status.
Watch the skies this evening!
