Coronal hole faces Earth
Saturday, 27 August 2016 20:51 UTC
Four nights ago we saw an unexpected G1 geomagnetic storm that produced aurora which was visible even from middle latitude locations like England and the Netherlands. This was the work of a coronal hole solar wind stream that tipped the north-south direction of the IMF (Bz) southward during multiple hours.
Missed it? Well it looks like we are in for another chance very soon. A minor coronal hole is currently facing Earth and this prompted the NOAA SWPC to issue a minor G1 geomagnetic storm watch for Monday 29 August and Tuesday 30 August.
A coronal hole is facing Earth. Enhanced solar wind could arrive in ~3 days - Follow live on https://t.co/T1Jkf6i4Cb pic.twitter.com/UKD8yI71Az
— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) 27 augustus 2016
But that's not all. If you look closely to the picture above from NASA's SDO spacecraft you can see that this small coronal hole is actually connected to a much larger northern hemisphere coronal hole that is still on the east side (left side on this picture) of our star. This much larger coronal hole will face Earth in a few days from now. With a bit of luck, we could be in for a long period of enhanced geomagnetic conditions.
Thank you for reading this article! Did you have any trouble with the technical terms used in this article? Our help section is the place to be where you can find in-depth articles, a FAQ and a list with common abbreviations. Still puzzled? Just post on our forum where we will help you the best we can!
Latest news
X1.5 solar flare
M2.7 solar flare, CME arrival possible
Complex sunspot region 4366
Latest forum messages
Support SpaceWeatherLive.com!
A lot of people come to SpaceWeatherLive to follow the Solar activity or if there is a chance to see the aurora, but with more traffic comes higher costs to keep the servers online. If you like SpaceWeatherLive and want to support the project you can choose a subscription for an ad-free site or consider a donation. With your help we can keep SpaceWeatherLive online!
Space weather facts
| Last X-flare | 2026/03/30 | X1.5 |
| Last M-flare | 2026/04/09 | M1.0 |
| Last geomagnetic storm | 2026/04/03 | Kp7- (G3) |
| Spotless days | |
|---|---|
| Last 365 days | 3 days |
| 2026 | 3 days (3%) |
| Last spotless day | 2026/02/24 |
| Monthly mean Sunspot Number | |
|---|---|
| March 2026 | 85.9 +7.7 |
| April 2026 | 94.2 +8.3 |
| Last 30 days | 94.7 +35.4 |