A 1,2-Punch Heads for Earth and a Hidden Eclipse Surprise | Solar Storm Forecast 14 April 2024

My forecast this week has some special eclipse coverage you won’t want to miss. This special segment goes into what our Sun kept hidden in plain sight during totality. If you were lucky enough to see the big prominence dangling from the limb of the Sun (on the ground it looked like it was on the southernmost edge), then you also got to see the tethering of a solar storm, suspended high in the solar atmosphere, before it was able to launch as a CME. Although not unique, seeing such a magnetic configuration as this during a solar eclipse is rare. No doubt, there will be many scientific analyses that combine space-based and ground-based observations of the eclipse in comprehensive studies of this event. In all likelihood, we will learn even more about the physical mechanisms of eruptive prominences and be able to study their fine-scale dynamics in far more detail. That is the really cool thing about eclipses during solar maximum. The Sun’s corona is full of opportunities! As for the weather this week, expect a good chance for aurora on April 14-15. We also have big flare players entering the scene again, so radio blackouts are back on the menu. This means amateur radio operators and GPS users will need to deal with increasing noise on the dayside radio bands and stay vigilant for R1 to R2-level radio blackouts. Learn the details of the coming storms, find out when and where aurora may be visible, and discover how a solar storm can be hidden in plain sight! This Space Weather News forecast sponsored in part by Millersville University: Want early access to these forecasts, tutorials on Space Weather, & more? Visit: For daily and often hourly updates (during active times) visit me on Twitter: For a more in-depth look at eruptive prominences like the one highlighted in the eclipse segment, see Dr. Nat Gopalswamy’s excellent work, “The Dynamics of Eruptive Prominences,“ especially Figure 10. It shows a very similar event with a dark cavity at the top of a prominence, like the one seen during the eclipse: For other data and images shown in this video, see links in my other forecasts. I am saving room for the field reporter credits of all the amazing eclipse footage highlighted this week. Solar Eclipse Photography Credits: Vincent Ledvina, Broken Bend, Oklahoma, USA: Mike Richardson, Conway Arkansas, USA: (personal communication) Spencer Dant, south of St Louis, Missouri, USA: Jake Stehli, Carterville, Illinois, USA:   Jerry Ryan, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA: (personal communication) Alan Jacknow, Newport, Vermont, USA (personal communication) Dan St. Hilaire, Northern New Hampshire, USA (personal communication) Jamie Walter, Sugarloaf, Maine, USA: Mr Waseem, flight during totality: Michael Charnick, Arkansas, USA: