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Posted by WorldPeas 1/19/2026

Level S4 solar radiation event(www.swpc.noaa.gov)
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/goes-proton-flux
628 points | 198 commentspage 2
lukan 1/20/2026|
I missed it (seeing the Aurora) .. are there any reliable alerts for this sort of event, that do not alert me about anything else, but really only such big events?
cvt7bm 1/20/2026||
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/subscription-services
lukan 1/20/2026||
Thanks, that seems exactly what I was looking for. (Now I have to figure out the best way to get a alert to my phone if my inbox receives such a mail, probably easiest to use a a mailadress just for this case and then treat this emailadress different)
MrGilbert 1/20/2026|||
One caveat is, that these events cannot be forecasted in the same way as weather on earth can. You usually only have a lead time of 15 - 45 minutes. See also https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/aurora-tutorial
lukan 1/20/2026||
Sure. But if I am awake, those 15 minutes are enough to get dressed and go outside.

Yesterday I just would have had to walk to the balkony to see it, but I was busy with some frustrating coding problem instead ..

Levitating 1/20/2026||
same, I was awake for the whole night but completely missed it
vachina 1/20/2026|||
On iOS there’s an app literally called “Aurora”.

It will notify you when you’re in an area with a high Kp (or above a Kp you specify).

albertzeyer 1/20/2026||
I had registered for alerts on https://aurorasaurus.org/. But that alert was sent way too late for me (strongest lights were yesterday around 10-11 PM, and the notification was sent 2 AM today). But I was very lucky and just noticed the lights by accident on my way home.
aussieguy1234 1/19/2026||
I'll be going out tonight if this continues into Australian night time hours.

At this strength, I could see the full display including colors with my naked eye in Melbourne, May 11th 2024. This storm is slightly stronger than that event.

ikr678 1/20/2026|
I'll be attempting to get some photos/footage from Esperance.
defrost 1/20/2026||
There's a high triple threat bar for Astro photos sourced from Western Australia.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110529.html

If you manage to pull off the Aurora Australis above a triple curl at The Right with a shark body surfing into the green room ... the internet will explode.

rediguanayum 1/19/2026||
Moon should be good too to see Aurora tonight: waxing crescent 1% https://www.moongiant.com/phase/today/
bashtoni 1/19/2026||
Australian Bureau of Meteorology advisory for visible aurora: https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/Aurora
aussieguy1234 1/20/2026||
Worth noting that Kp, which many talk about in discussions online, is more or less useless for anyone in Australia or the southern hemisphere. Lots of beginner Aurora chasers here get tripped up by that.

What is useful is KAus and the G index, KAus is shown on this page, so thats what i'll be tracking.

jp0d 1/19/2026|||
Are there any resources to track Aurora sightings or predicted sightings?
lakid 1/20/2026|||
https://aurora-alerts.uk/ Ignore the UK TLD, this tracks global sightings
jp0d 1/20/2026||
Ahh thank you! I saw a few photos from last night's Aurora sightings down here in Vic, Australia. Maybe next time! :)
stubish 1/19/2026|||
At the bottom right of that page is a subscribe link, with a number of different alerts and lists to subscribe to.
jp0d 1/20/2026||
Thank you!
hahahahhaah 1/19/2026||
Is that tonight or last night?
bashtoni 1/20/2026||
It was only issued this morning Australian time, so I presume it's for tonight.
PlatoIsADisease 1/19/2026||
Years ago I was concerned about this and made a plan with my wife for what to do if she was at work.

But now we have a bunch of kids in different schools and haven't updated our plan.

Does anyone have a plan for what happens if we have a really bad event?

hnuser123456 1/19/2026||
A really bad event would be that long-distance transmission lines act like antennas and pick up millions of volts and blow up all the transformers.

I don't know how much you can plan for that other than "if it happens, try to get home", and then all the usual prepper stuff.

myself248 1/20/2026|||
Pray for clear skies and go out and watch the beautiful aurora, silly!

Depending on the kids' ages, you can teach them quite a lot about the Earth's magnetic field and why the aurora concentrates at the poles, how the high-energy particles light up the sky (it's a lot like a neon light), and how the atmosphere shields us from any danger despite the spectacular show.

rootusrootus 1/19/2026|||
For a really bad event that managed to blow a lot of transformers (presumably due to grid operators not seeing it coming) ... well, take up farming.
internet_points 1/20/2026|||
Disconnect your telegraph batteries and run on aurora power only
fuzzer371 1/19/2026|||
Keep a couple days water and food on hand, go up to the pub, have a pint, and wait for this all to blow over.
JoshTriplett 1/19/2026||
With how much modern cars rely on electronics, I would not try to drive during such an event.
whyleyc 1/20/2026|||
It’s ok - The Winchester is within walking distance.
jrgd 1/20/2026||
Omg i watched this yesterday!
lxgr 1/19/2026||||
Solar flares are only dangerous to very long conductors.
luxuryballs 1/20/2026||
so cancel the limo?
throwaway81523 1/20/2026||||
That's a safety feature. It prevents you from drinking and driving if you go to a pub during a solar flare. :)
jrgd 1/20/2026|||
No one would drive to the pub anyway. Better walking back home…
JoshTriplett 1/20/2026||
Valid. I think I have such an ingrained different set of assumptions (a pub being just another kind of place for food, and "going to" anything involving a form of transportation) that that didn't even occur to me.
esskay 1/20/2026|||
Feel a bit sensationalistic. It happens, it's not rare, and we've always got on with life perfectly fine.
Tepix 1/19/2026|||
Buy a bit of extra food and water.
y1n0 1/19/2026||
And toilet paper! Rolls and rolls of toilet paper!
swader999 1/19/2026||
First rule of fight club...
Kunsang 1/20/2026||
Discussion of the event https://community.spaceweatherlive.com/topic/4210-x19-cme/
neogodless 1/20/2026||
This is definitely not a language I speak!

Flux and bZ!

imp0cat 1/20/2026|||
Surely you must be familiar with the flux capacitor? ;)
Kunsang 1/20/2026|||
I understand maybe half of this, but I followed the discussion and knew when it was about time to go outside.
fnands 1/20/2026||
Damn, I love finding some hyper-specific forums like this one.

Sooo much jargon.

WhitneyLand 1/19/2026||
How rare is this?

G4 storms are ~100 per solar cycle (~11 years).

So roughly 9 G4 events/year on average.

tbrownaw 1/20/2026||
But they should mostly be in the same part of the cycle rather than spread evenly.

It probably wouldn't make sense to calculate "average snow days per month" across an entire calendar year (in most places...), this is the same thing.

rapht 1/20/2026|||
This is an S4. Last S4 event was in October 2003.
velocity3230 1/20/2026|||
This is an S4, though.
velocity3230 1/20/2026||
Belay that. The G-value was high too.
burnt-resistor 1/20/2026||
Like 20-25 years rare according to some space weather youtuber.
creatonez 1/20/2026||
> some space weather youtuber

Please stop watching that guy, he is a total fraud and knows nothing about physics.

jokull 1/20/2026||
As seen from my apartment in Reykjavík Iceland: https://ss.solberg.is/89N0qS7T
smcnally 1/20/2026|
That’s beautiful. But you get aurora even sans G4, true? Was this more intense and spectacular?
jokull 1/20/2026||
Yes - not seen it this red though.
notfish 1/20/2026||
Had to stay up until 2am shutting down our spacecraft. Stupid sun hates to see me get a solid night’s sleep.
aclindsa 1/20/2026|
What spacecraft is your spacecraft?
phendrenad2 1/20/2026||
And where did you park it? And what's the combination to open the hatch?
markus_zhang 1/20/2026|
Well I didn't see anything last night (In Eastern Canada), probably because there was too much light in the suburb. Now the aurora "area" turns back to Europe and Asia, I hope you guys enjoy it!

Judging by this picture: https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/animations/ovation/nor... , I think in a few hours the whole North Europe can see it very clearly.

T0Bi 1/20/2026|
Your URL is broken (for me)
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