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: 09:24 (GMT) on Sun 26 Jul 2026
Forecast overview
Space Weather Forecast Headline: Chance of Moderate class flares. Chance of G1-G2 Minor to Moderate storms late 26 Jul or early 27 Jul from Coronal Mass Ejection arrival.
Analysis of Space Weather Activity over past 24 hours
Solar Activity: Low with isolated Common-class flares. There are currently seven sunspots regions on the visible disc. The region in the far west remains the largest region, however analysis is difficult due to proximity to the west limb. A region in the southeast retains some magnetic complexity within it, however it continues to be relatively inactive. The remaining sunspot regions appear magnetically simple and stable at this time.
No new Earth-directed Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) were observed.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: Solar winds indicated the fast winds from a coronal hole were persisting at Elevated levels, around 500km/s. Interplanetary Magnetic Field strength was Weak throughout, with the important north-south component also varying weakly. Geomagnetic activity was Quiet (Kp0-2) with one Unsettled (Kp3) interval.
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: A CME from the eruption on 24 Jul is likely to move across Earth from late day 1 or early day 2 (26-27 Jul). Ongoing Elevated fast winds are expected to ease back to Slightly-Elevated speeds during Day 1 (26 July) before becoming Elevated or Strong if the predicted CME arrives, with slow wind conditions returning through day 3 and 4 (28-29 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 1 or early day 2.
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) is expected to persist at Background with only a very slight chance of Solar Radiation Storms being observed.
Issued at: 12:29 (GMT) on Sun 26 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.
Issued at: