‰  NOW 18 WPM transition file follows ‰

Sunspot activity returned last Friday, and has held steady since.
Average daily sunspot numbers rose from 11.9 to 21.1, and average
daily solar flux was up 2.1 points to 74.3 for the reporting week
ending May 12.  Geomagnetic activity was quiet until Wednesday when
the planetary A index went to 41, as the result of a CME that
blasted out of the Sun on May 9.  It was not expected to be very
strong, but when it struck on May 12 it sparked a G3 class
geomagnetic storm, the strongest in the current solar cycle.  The
planetary A index rose to 41, far above an average of 3.8 on the
previous six days. The average daily planetary A index for the week,
May 6 to 12, was 9.1 and average middle latitude A index was 7.4.
Predicted solar flux over the next month is 75 on May 14 to 19, 70
on May 20 and 21, then 72, 80, and 79 on May 22 to 24, then 78, 77
and 73 on May 25 to 27, 72 on May 28 to 30, 70 on May 31 and June 1.
Then its 71 and 75 on June 2 and 3, 76 on June 4 and 5, 74 on June 6
and 7, 75 on June 8 and 9, 77 on June 10, and 79 on June 11 to 13.
Note in the 45 day forecast that solar flux of 84 predicted for June
15 seems to be an outlier.  It can be found via ftp at,
//ftp.swpc.noaa.gov/pub/forecasts/45DF/051345DF.txt .  Odd that
predicted solar flux would shift from 78 to 84 to 77. But we saw a
similar prediction recently for that same value a week into the
future, but any trace of it here seems to have disappeared down the
memory hole.  The prediction can be found at,
//ftp.swpc.noaa.gov/pub/forecasts/45DF/ .  There seems to be some
problem accessing File Transfer Protocol files lately on some web
browsers. It gradually disappeared from Microsoft Edge, then
Firefox, then Chrome. I discovered that although I keep the Windows
OS updated, the old Internet Explorer still exists on my PC, and it
does not block FTP.  Predicted planetary A index is 5 on May 14 to
16, then 15, 12, 8, 5 and 8 on May 17 to 21, 5 on May 22 through
June 5, then 8, 5 and 8 on June 6 to 8, then 8, 5, 12, 18, and 15
and on June 9 to 13.  Geomagnetic activity forecast for the period
May 14 to June 8, 2021 from F.K. Janda, OK1HH of the Czech
Propagation Interested Group, compiling this geomagnetic activity
weekly forecasts since January 1978.  Ken Brown, N4SO checks a graph
of the EISN each day and compares it with propagation on 30 and 17
meters. Of interest are stations in China, Japan, Korea, and Asiatic
Russia propagated at 6000 miles plus. The graph can be found at,
//www.sidc.be/silso/eisnplot .  The estimated international sunspot
number, or EISN, is a daily value obtained by a simple average over
available sunspot counts from 85 worldwide observers in the SILSO
network.  Check this link for an interesting sporadic E real time
online tool, //www.propquest.co.uk/map.php .  Two recent reports
from the Space Weather Woman, Dr. Tamitha Skov, WX6SWW can be found
on youtube.com.  Sunspot numbers were 0, 15, 17, 18, 36, 31 and 31,
with a mean of 21.1. 10.7 cm flux was 70.8, 74.5, 71.6, 75.9, 76.5,
76.1, and 74.7, with a mean of 74.3. Estimated planetary A indices
were 4, 3, 3, 4, 6, 3, and 41, with a mean of 9.1. Middle latitude A
index was 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 4, and 25, with a mean of 7.4.

‰  END OF 18 WPM transition file ƒ