Earth will be covered by a solar wind stream from a giant coronal hole: magnetic storms expected from November 7

A giant coronal hole on the Sun

November 5 The Laboratory of Solar Astronomy of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAN) and the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISTP SB RAS) reported the discovery on the Sun of one of the largest coronal holes of 2026: its transverse size is about a million kilometers. A coronal hole is a region in the upper layer of the solar atmosphere where the plasma is cooler and less dense than around it; it glows more faintly in the ultraviolet range and appears as a dark depression in space images. Through such areas, particles escape more easily into interplanetary space, so a magnetic storm can begin even without a powerful flare — its cause is a stream of fast solar wind.

When to expect the storms and how strong they will be

According to the laboratory's forecast, on the night of November 6–7 the Earth will enter a stream of fast solar wind from this hole and will remain in it for at least five days — until roughly the middle of next week. Life.ru provides a detailed hourly forecast: on the night of November 7 the Kp index may rise to 5 — the threshold of a weak G1 magnetic storm, and the probability of a storm on that day is estimated at 56%. At the same time, scientists emphasize that being inside the stream does not mean a continuous storm: everything depends on the actual characteristics of the plasma, which are not yet known. Both several days of magnetic storms and only episodic disturbances are possible; the preliminary date of full stabilization is put at November 13–14.

Context of the month

November began with geomagnetic disturbances, and in the laboratory's monthly chart November 17–18 and 27–28 also stand out, with only the predicted rise on November 27 reaching the magnetic storm threshold. In the coming days, before the stream arrives, conditions are expected to be moderate: on November 5 the probability of a storm was estimated at 26%, on November 6 — at 46%, with the Kp index rising to 4 in the evening. Scientists note that the arrival time of the stream and the strength of the magnetosphere's response may still change, so the forecast should be updated using fresh three-day calculations.