= NOW 18 WPM transition file follows =

Solar flares emerged daily over the last reporting week, April 14 to
20. On April 20 Spaceweather.com reported Solar Activity is
Intensifying, and that over the past 24 hours there were 19 solar
flares, including six M class events, and a powerful X2.2 class
flare.  Daily sunspot numbers averaged 64.4, 30 points higher than
last week, and average daily solar flux also rose 30 points from
103.1 to 133.9.  Yesterday, April 21, the huge array of active Earth
facing sunspots pushed the daily sunspot number clear up to 119,
high above the average for the week of 64.4.  Even with all the
flares and CMEs, geomagnetic indicators were lower, with the average
planetary A index going from 16.9 to 14.6, and middle latitude
numbers from 12.6 to 10.9.  Predicted solar flux looked moderate,
but the outlook improved between April 20 and the following day,
with flux values at 160 on April 22 to 29, 125 on April 30, 130 on
May 1 to 4, 125 on May 5, 130 on May 6 and 7, 128 on May 8, 130 on
May 9 and 10, 135 on May 11 and 12, 140 on May 13 and 14, 135 on May
15, 130 on May 16 to 18, 135 on May 19, 130 on May 20 and 21, 135 on
May 22, 132 on May 23 to 25, 125 on May 26 and 27, and 130 on May 28
to 31.  Predicted planetary A index is 5 and 12 on April 22 and 23,
12 on April 23, 8 on April 24 and 25, 5 on April 26 to 28, then 18,
12 and 8 on April 29 through May 1, 5 on May 2 to 5, then 8, 15, 12
and 8 on May 6 to 9, 5 on May 10 to 12, then 8, 10 and 12 on May 13
to 15, 10 on May 16 and 17, 8 on May 18 and 19, then 12 and 8 on May
20 and 21, 5 on May 22 to 25, then 18, 12 and 8 on May 26 to 28.  A
week ago, we knew solar activity would rise, but the reality
exceeded expectations. As predicted, a CME hit Earths magnetic field
on April 14th. Its impact sparked a moderately strong G2 class
geomagnetic storm, which peaked around 1800 UTC. Apparently due to
the further increasing solar radiation, the disturbance was mainly
accompanied by an improvement in the ionospheric propagation of
decameter waves, such as 10 meters, which also applied to the
following development.  Activity prevailed in growing hotspots in
the northeast quadrant of the solar disk. In the following days, the
activity of the southwestern areas increased, including the X2.2
class flare on April 20th at 0357 UTC, when it came from a far side
sunspot. And finally, on April 21st at 0157 UTC a strong M9.6 class
solar flare was detected. The source was the sunspot complex AR2993
94, which is almost directly facing Earth, so I expect the
intensified solar wind in the coming days to affect the Earths
magnetosphere and ionosphere.  An impressive image can be found on,
//skyandtelescope.org/ .  More and more solar flares can also be
found on, //www.space.com/ .  Sunspot numbers were 37, 35, 78, 74,
79, 68, and 80, with a mean of 64.4. 10.7 cm flux was 103.4, 110.3,
122.4, 134.9, 140.5, 160.1, and 165.5, with a mean of 133.9.
Estimated planetary A indices were 38, 21, 8, 11, 8, 7, and 9, with
a mean of 14.6. Middle latitude A index was 22, 14, 7, 9, 7, 8, and
9, with a mean of 10.9.

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