• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Earth Directed X2 Solar flare in progress.

Michael Gavan

Michael Gavan

EF2
Joined
May 1, 2011
Messages
180
Location
Colorado
From spaceweather.com:

X2-FLARE AND RADIO BLACKOUT: Sunspot AR2297 has just unleashed a strong Earth-directed solar flare (March 11 @ 16:22 UT). Extreme UV radiation from the blast, which measured X2 on the Richter Scale of Flares, is causing HF radio fade-outs and other propagation effects on the dayside of Earth, primarily over the Americas: map. Meanwhile, natural radio emissions from the sun suggest that a CME might be emerging from the blast site at speeds exceeding 1,400 km/s (3.1 million mph). Stay tuned for updates.

Those of you that follow northern lights around, a 1400 km/s Earth Directed CME is very significant, especially with the generally weak solar cycle and overall bad luck we've been having. Northern Lights very possible in the next 36-60 hours.
 
planetary-k-index.gif




My absolute favorite indicator of future aurora strength is the ACE Bt Bz number (top graph, red and white)

ace-mag-swepam-24-hour.gif


Any "red" value of -5 and lower is generally good enough for Aurora in the usual places. -10 is good for strong aurora reaching northern tier US states. -15 to -20 is deep into the northern tier, and anything lower than -20 is could translate to either intensely bright aurora or visibility even further south. There are other parameters like density and solar wind speed that could intensify or weaken the overall impact but they seem more secondary overall.
As of right now, very good shape. This should remain fairly intense for another 4-6 hours minimum.
 
I have wanted to see the northern lights all of my life, and I finally have good enough camera gear to where I think I can get some decent shots. It sickens me that we have high, thin cloud cover right now as well as in the immediate forecast. I am crossing my fingers for clear skies tonight.
 
Nothing yet down along the I-70 latitudes. This is looking like one of those events where you have to stay out much of the night to hope to catch the good bursts.
 
We had cloud cover but it looked like there was a better chance for clear skies in Minnesota (plus it was higher latitude, so win-win). I took off from Des Moines about an hour before sunset thinking I would go as far as Albert Lea or so , but after driving north for an hour with no indication whatsoever I would be encountering clearing skies I decided to turn back home. I set the alarm and checked several times overnight but we had cloudy skies each time. I should be used to this; it happens during classic meteor events and eclipses, too.
 
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