Two new sunspot groups appeared on August 3, and then three more appeared on August 7, followed by another on August 9.
But solar activity was lower during our current reporting week of August 3 – 9, with the average daily sunspot number dropping from 154.3 to 108.9, and average solar flux from 173 to 166.4.
The average daily planetary A index rose from 8.3 to 12.3, and the average middle latitude A index rose from 9.3 to 10.1.
The middle latitude A index on August 3 – 4 was not available, so I estimated the value based on the planetary A index and remaining five middle latitude readings for the rest of the week.
Predicted solar flux is 150 on August 10 – 12; 145, 140, 130, and 135 on August 13 – 16; 162 on August 17 – 18; 164 on August 19 – 20; 168 on August 21 – 23; 172, 172, and 170 on August 24 – 26; 172, 172, and 174 on August 27 – 29; 172, 172, and 170 on August 30 – September 1; 168, 168, 166, and 164 on September 2 – 5, and 162, 162, 164, and 164 on September 6 – 9.
Predicted planetary A index is 12 on August 10; 5 on August 11 – 14; 12 and 8 on August 15 – 16; 5 on August 17 – 25; 12 on August 26, and 5 on August 27 – September 4.
On August 9, Spaceweather.com wrote about a 1940 geomagnetic storm that sounds similar to the infamous Carrington Event.
Two coronal mass ejections hit Earth, each 109 minutes apart. Read a recent scientific paper on the event at https://bit.ly/3s1VrMh.
Check out the following articles on solar flares:
Space weather forecaster Dr. Tamitha Skov, WX6SWW, recently uploaded this video:
https://youtu.be/Olfjss8GmSI
Sunspot numbers for August
3 – 9, 2023, were 124, 122, 100, 97, 101, 115, and 103, with a mean of 108.9.
The 10.7-centimeter flux was 162.9, 170.8, 175.8, 173.5, 169.7, 158.9, and
153.4, with a mean of 166.4. Estimated planetary A indices were 6, 13, 36, 4,
12, 8, and 7, with a mean of 12.3. Middle latitude A index was 5, 12, 24, 4,
11, 7, and 8, with a mean of 10.1.