MASSIVE X-2.2 Class Solar Flare Occurred Today, 4/20/2022: US Authorities Analyzing Impact

A massive X-2.2 class solar flare struck Earth earlier today, 4/20/22. This is a breaking news developing story, and more information will be added as it becomes available… Solar flares are rated logarithmically, not in a linear fashion, so a X-2 (or in this case, X-2.2) class flare is MUCH stronger than X-1 or X1.2 flare occurrence… similar to how earthquake magnitude is measured on a logarithmic scale.

SWPC posted that “large portions of [the] sunlit side of Earth” were impacted by the solar flare, which is rated STRONG.

According to NOAA/SWPC, this flare may have caused strong radio communications blackouts and other issues already.

As NOAA subsequently noted on their web site in a post, “An X2.2 flare (R3-Strong Radio Blackout) occurred at 11:57pm EDT on 19 April, 2022 (20/0357 UTC). The flare erupted from a region just beyond the southwest limb of the Sun – likely former Region 2992. The strong flare was associated with multiple bursts on specific radio frequencies to include a burst of 509 solar flux units on 2695 MHz. Additionally, a Type II radio sweep was detected by the USAF Radio Solar Telescope Network (RSTN), with an estimated velocity of 1630 km/s. This radio signature is often indicative of a potential coronal mass ejection (CME). SWPC forecasters are waiting for available coronagraph imagery from the NASA/SOHO LASCO instrument to confirm if a CME took place, and if so, analyze accordingly.”

Earlier | Earth Was Hit By X-Class Solar Flare On Sunday, Here’s What We Know So Far