Today's Space Weather

Like meteorologists who check temperatures, winds, and pressure to predict the weather on Earth, scientists monitor the Sun and our space environment to forecast the weather in space.Using high-tech spacecraft,

Earth-based telescopes, and old-fashioned hand sketches of the Sun, scientists search the surface of the Sun for signs of flares and CMEs. They monitor the solar wind moving toward Earth to see if it is carrying foul weather. And they measure the energy flowing into Earth’s upper atmosphere and the distortion of magnetic fields near the ground. From these bits of information, NOAA’s Space Environment Center forecasts whether our space weather will be mild or wild.

The Space Weather Center is part of the National Space Weather Program, with funding provided by NASA and the National Science Foundation.