Oh heck!

On the Bands
1

Yesterday:

Space Weather Message Code: SUMX01
Serial Number: 205
Issue Time: 2026 Jan 18 1900 UTC

SUMMARY: X-ray Event exceeded X1
Begin Time: 2026 Jan 18 1727 UTC
Maximum Time: 2026 Jan 18 1809 UTC
End Time: 2026 Jan 18 1851 UTC
X-ray Class: X1.9
Optical Class: 3b
Location: S12E20
NOAA Scale: R3 - Strong

NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at

Potential Impacts: Area of impact consists of large portions of the sunlit side of Earth, strongest at the sub-solar point.
Radio - Wide area blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication for about an hour.

Today:

Screenshot at 2026-01-19 22-21-15
Screenshot at 2026-01-19 22-21-15280×206 17.2 KB

(c) DXheat.com

1 Like
2

When space weather deals you HF lemons…

Make VHF/UHF lemonade! :heart_eyes:

…or alternatively do something else. Go for a brisk walk, eat an orange, share a box of After Eights with a stranger, learn to ride a unicycle, etc…

2 Likes
3

An X1.9 flare is nothing much really but by golly the CME it blasted out this way is something else. It arrived about 19:30 today and has now rocked the K index up to 8 and the A index up to 236.

6m has a bit of AU into IO84 but considering how high the A index is I am surprised it isn’t stronger.

It’s a G4-class (severe) geomagnetic storm with the distinct possibility of reaching G5 (extreme) in the hours ahead. Raining here so no chance of seeing a pretty visible aurora.

4

I’ve seen one set of numbers showing it’s up to 10 now!

5

But look at the times - it lasted 84 minutes!

6

I don’t think the K index goes to 10 unless it’s the end of the known universe!

Yes indeed it was a pretty long flare. The most remarkable thing is the speed with which the CME got here, just 24 hours.

1 Like
7

Yike, K=8.7 and A=300 now. That’s extreme G5 stuff. Either that or the end of the known universe is nigh.

8

Active aurora visible over Stroud half an hour ago. Clouded over now.

1 Like
9

Aurora Borealis?

At this time of day? At this time of year? In this part of the country? Localised entirely within your kitchen?

May I see it?

1 Like
10

It was all over Europe, one of the strongest in recent years. Heard SM7FJE and others auroral sigs on 6m around 10pm

11

Damnation! Its drizzled here all day, typical, most often the aurora shows on cloudy nights.

IIRC the fastest onsets recorded are nineteen hours.

12

good showing down here in Pembrokeshire still

1 Like
13

Yes but extremely rare. There is an interesting chart on SpaceWeather.com showing CME arrival time statistics. I’m receiving reports of strong visible aurora as far south as Cornwall.

Ap is still pinned at 300 and looks like it will be for a while. Tomorrow may well be interesting for VHF auroral activity.

14

Just checked, the record is probably the transit time of the Carrington Event which was 17.6 hours, thankfully the current event is not in the same class! :grinning: