Larry sent me the following note this morning: "I noticed a bit ago that the little indicator in the upper left corner [of my personal screen, which has a solar activity X-ray indicator,] had changed from green ("Normal") to yellow ("Active") for the first time in a long time (2 years?)."

"The graph at http://www.n3kl.com/sun/images/noaa_xrays.gif? is sort of startling."

Not a solar expert, although I sometimes play one on TV, I asked Larry what he thought it meant. He responded, "With no authority whatever I think that is an artifact of the first (my estimate) really energetic sunspots in a long time."

Sure enough, SpaceWeather describes a massive solar storm that dwarfs anything seen in the last couple of years.