Coronal hole faces Earth, G2 watch issued

Saturday, 2 December 2017 20:52 UTC

This is a familiar coronal hole that has been around for multiple rotations (last rotation) and despite its location at a fairly high latitude, it often managed to produce solar wind speeds in excess of 600km/s here at Earth. This high speed solar wind stream is often accompanied by a strong interplanetary magnetic field and this often resulted in moderate G2 geomagnetic storm conditions and aurora which was visible from some middle latitude locations!

The NOAA SWPC has been one step ahead of us and has already issued a moderate G2 geomagnetic storm watch for 4 (Monday) and 5 (Tuesday) December. Solar wind speeds are again expected to exceed 600km/s this rotation based on STEREO data.