Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news via Spaceweather.com:
Above: Carrington’s sunspot (to scale) compared to today’s giant sunspot AR3664.
HUGE SUNSPOT HURLS CME TOWARD EARTH: A sunspot so large it visually rivals Carrington’s famous sunspot of 1859 hurled a CME toward Earth today. Don’t worry! A new Carrington Event is not in the offing. The incoming CME isn’t potent enough. However, this huge sunspot merits watching while Earth is in its strike zone. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.
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https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/Space_Weather
https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/HF_Systems/6/1/1 for HF communications forecasts
That sunspot has been crackling up some big flares. This morning at 0530 UTC it hit with an X1 flare aimed directly at Earth. It’s been blowing off M-Class flares all day long and then just now at 2145 UTC it blew another X-Class flare at us.
Right now, it looks like we’re going to see the Coronal Mass Ejection arrive late on the 10th/Early 11th UTC. We’ve been seeing some R3 Radio blackouts. Sorry for all you lower shortwave listeners, the D-Layer absorption will be significant. However, this might be a good time to listen at 30 MHz and possibly higher.
The effect on some broadcast AM signals are https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/tech-tips/what-i-heard-during-the-solar-event