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 coronal mass ejection (CME) may glance Earth later on Saturday (UTC), perhaps allowing for a weak enhancement to the aurora. There is a small chance that any enhancement could persist into the evening and overnight into Sunday, allowing for some aurora visibility across the far north of Scotland and similar latitudes. However the limited hours of darkness will further limit this potential.
Southern Hemisphere
A coronal mass ejection (CME) may glance Earth later on Saturday (UTC), perhaps allowing for a weak enhancement to the aurora. There is a small chance that any enhancement could persist into the evening and overnight into Sunday, allowing for some aurora visibility across the far south of New Zealand and similar geomagnetic latitudes.
Issued at: 03:05 (GMT) on Sat 13 Jun 2026
Forecast overview
Space Weather Forecast Headline: Chance of G1/Minor Geomagnetic Storms day 1 (13 Jun).
Analysis of Space Weather Activity over past 24 hours
Solar Activity: Low with isolated Common-class flares. There are five sunspot regions on the Earth-facing disc, however these are all either stable or showing signs of decay, with the largest and most complex in the northeast. However this is still relatively small, simple and showing some decay.
A number of Coronal Mass Ejection (CMEs) were observed leaving the disc, however none of these have a clear Earth-directed component.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: Onset of fast solar winds from a coronal hole were observed early on 12 Jun, and then persisted throughout. Solar wind speeds were initially Slightly Elevated at around 450km/s, but rose from 12/0300 UTC to peak Elevated to Strong by 12/0600 UTC, at 550-600km/s. Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) was initially Moderate but steadily decayed to be Weak from 12/0600 UTC. The north-south component was variable through the same values, but favoured a Southward orientation. Geomagnetic Activity was Quiet to Unsettled (Kp 1-3).
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) was at background with no solar radiation storms observed.
Four-Day Space Weather Forecast Summary
Solar Activity: Low activity is forecast with a slight chance of rising to Moderate due to isolated Moderate-class flares.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: Up to three CMEs could glance Earth on 13 Jun, however two of these, from 10 Jun, are low confidence. The other CME, from 11 Jun, is also uncertain, however this is most likely to give a glancing arrival around 13/1500 UTC. Otherwise ongoing fast winds are expected to only gradually ease through the period. Geomagnetic activity is expected to be mainly Quiet with a chance of Unsettled intervals. Any CME arrival will bring a likelihood of a spell of Active and a chance of G1 Minor Storms, later day 1 (13 Jun) easing into day 2 (14 Jun).
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) is forecast to persist at Background with no solar radiation storms occurring.
Issued at: 00:15 (GMT) on Sat 13 Jun 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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