Director, Office of Space Weather Observations at NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
Appears in 1 story
Leading federal space weather monitoring efforts
On January 18, 2026, the Sun fired the most intense radiation storm in over 20 years directly at Earth. An X1.9-class flare launched a coronal mass ejection traveling at 1,700 kilometers per second—plasma moving fast enough to cross the Sun-Earth distance in just 25 hours. The resulting geomagnetic storm reached G4 (Severe) levels, placing it at the top of warning scales and triggering auroras visible from Texas to Italy. Three weeks later, the Sun has not quieted. On February 2, a massive sunspot region designated AR4366—nearly 10 times wider than Earth—erupted with an X8.1 flare, the strongest since the January event. Two days later, on February 4, another X4.2 flare followed, with additional M-class flares crackling almost continuously from the same region.
Updated Feb 7
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