Space Weather
Space weather describes changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space. Magnetic fields, radiation, particles and matter, which have been ejected from the Sun, can interact with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and surrounding magnetic field to produce a variety of effects.
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Aurora forecasts
Northern Hemisphere
A passing Coronal Mass Ejection may bring a slight enhancement to the aurora overnight on Sunday into Monday (UTC). This will bring a chance for glimpses of visible aurora across northern Scotland and other locations at similar geomagnetic latitudes. However, the shortened hours of darkness at this time of year will significantly limit viewing opportunities.
Southern Hemisphere
A passing Coronal Mass Ejection may bring a slight enhancement to the aurora overnight on Sunday into Monday (UTC). This will bring a chance for brief glimpses of visible aurora from southernmost parts of New Zealand and similar geomagnetic latitudes.
Issued at: 05:02 (GMT) on Sat 25 Jul 2026
Forecast overview
Space Weather Forecast Headline: Low to Moderate Activity. Chance of G1-G2 Minor to Moderate storms late 26 Jul or 27 Jul from Coronal Mass Ejection arrival.
Analysis of Space Weather Activity over past 24 hours
Solar Activity: Low with isolated Common-class flares. The largest of these was from the largest region on the disc, now in the western solar hemisphere, but simplifying into a more mature and open region. There are six regions on the disc, with one of the small regions in the southeast, and also the region nearest the northeast limb, the most likely source of any notable flares, due to their complexity and/or ongoing growth.
Two coincident eruptions were observed off the southeast disc shortly after 24/0400 UTC, with the subsequence combined Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) having been assessed as likely arriving late on day 2 or early day 3 (26-27 Jul). No other Earth-directed CMEs were observed.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: Solar winds showed the easing fast winds from a coronal hole. Solar wind speeds eased from Strong to Elevated, around 650km/s to 550km/s. Interplanetary Magnetic Field eased from Moderate to be Background from 24/0900 UTC, with the north-south component mainly Weak and initially erratic in direction varying, but mainly northward from 24/0600 UTC. Geomagnetic activity was Unsettled to Active (Kp3-4) at first, but became Quiet from 24/0600 UTC (Kp0-2).
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) persisted at Background with no Solar Radiation Storms observed.
Four-Day Space Weather Forecast Summary
Solar Activity: Low to Moderate activity is expected with a chance of isolated M-class flares.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: The CME from the eruption on 24 Jul is likely to move across Earth from late day 2 or early day 3 (26-27 Jul). Otherwise ongoing fast winds are expected to ease to Background slow wind conditions day 2 (26 Jul). Geomagnetic activity is expected to be Quiet to Unsettled at first, but likely increasing to give a spell of Active to G1 Minor Storm with a chance of G2 Moderate storms with the CME arrival, either late day 2 or day 3 (26 or 27 Jul).
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) is expected to persist at Background with only a slight chance of Solar Radiation Storms being observed.
Issued at: 00:15 (GMT) on Sat 25 Jul 2026
Solar imagery
SDO AIA-193
This channel highlights the outer atmosphere of the Sun - called the corona - as well as hot flare plasma. Hot active regions, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections will appear bright here. The dark areas - called coronal holes - are places where very little radiation is emitted, yet are the main source of solar wind particles.
Issued at:
SDO AIA-304
This channel is especially good at showing areas where cooler dense plumes of plasma (filaments and prominences) are located above the visible surface of the Sun. Many of these features either can't be seen or appear as dark lines in the other channels. The bright areas show places where the plasma has a high density.
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