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.
Space weather notifications
There are currently no active notifications.
Aurora forecasts
Northern Hemisphere
The greatest chance of enhanced auroral activity is on Sunday night into Monday and Monday into Tuesday UTC. This owing to the onset of a couple of streams of faster solar winds at Earth. Enhanced auroral displays for high latitudes as far south as northern Scotland and similar latitudes are possible where skies are sufficiently clear, possibly extending slightly further south between Monday and Tuesday UTC.
Southern Hemisphere
The greatest chance of enhanced auroral activity is late Sunday UTC into Monday and late Monday into Tuesday UTC. This owing to the onset of a couple of streams of faster solar winds at Earth. Enhanced auroral displays for higher latitudes as far north as South Island of New Zealand, Tasmania and similar geomagnetic latitudes are possible where skies are sufficiently clear, possibly extending slightly further south between Monday and Tuesday UTC.
Issued at: 06:04 (GMT) on Sun 13 Sep 2026
Forecast overview
Space Weather Forecast Headline: Increased geomagnetic activity expected in the coming days.
Analysis of Space Weather Activity over past 24 hours
Solar Activity: Activity is Low, with no significant recent flare activity observed.
There are seven sunspot regions on the facing-disc, however, all are magnetically simple and generally small. All regions were either stable, or in slight decay.
No Earth directed Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) were observed during this period.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: Solar winds have been slightly elevated to background over the past 24 hours, on a generally declining trend. The Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) strength, was Weak, with the north-south component, Bz, oscillating weakly between positive (northward) and negative (southward) directions. Geomagnetic activity was Quiet (Kp 1-2).
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: High energy proton flux was at normal background levels with no Solar Radiation storms observed.
Four-Day Space Weather Forecast Summary
Solar Activity: Solar activity is expected to remain Low or Very Low with only a slight chance of reaching Moderate levels should any isolated Moderate-class flares occur.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity:
A low-confidence, but very slow CME could arrive at Earth on Day 2 (14 Sep), but any effects (should an impact occur) are expected to be minor.
The forecast period is dominated by two large, recurrent coronal holes that are expected to become geoeffective on Day 1 (13 Sep) and Day 3 (15 Sep) respectively. Solar wind speeds should increase to Elevated or Strong levels with these arrivals, triggering enhanced geomagnetic activity. This likely peaking between Days 2 and 3 (14 and 15 Sep).
Geomagnetic activity will start the period at Quiet or perhaps Unsettled levels, increasing later on Day 1 (13 Sep) with peak Active levels likely and a slight chance of Kp5/G1 intervals occurring. Into Day 2 and 3 (14 and 15 Sep), mainly Unsettled to Active geomagnetic activity is forecast, but with a reasonable chance of isolated Kp5/G1 intervals being observed. During Day 4 (16 Sep) activity should be at Quiet to Active levels, with a decreasing likelihood of higher levels of geomagnetic activity over time.
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: High energy proton flux is at background with no Solar Radiation storms expected.
Issued at: 00:29 (GMT) on Sun 13 Sep 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.
Issued at: