Space Weather (Flares and Geomagnetic Storms)

There are many forms of solar weather, sunspot, CMEs, solar flare, geomagnetic storms etc...Today the magnetic storm over the large sunspot has been getting more intense and there are some great UV images taken of it here:

However, we didn't really know what a solar flare or a geomagnetic storm was, so here's a little blurb about them:

Solar flares are explosions on the Sun that happen when energy stored in a twisted magnetic field is suddently released. Flares produce a burst of radiation across the EM spectrum, and scientists divide them into 3 classes, according to their X-ray brightness. THe three categories are:
X CLASS - massive events which can trigger planet wide radio blackout and long lasting ratio storms
M CLASS - medium sized flares that can affect the Earth's polar regions, with minor radiation storms
C CLASS - in comarison, quite small flares with few noticeable consequences on Earth.

Geomagnetic storms are temporary disturbances of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by space weather. It is caused by a solar wind shock wave which strikes the Earth's magnetic field. The pressure from the solar wind modifies the electric currents in the ionosphere.

So there's a little blurb on both; two of many forms of solar weather. It's interesting to see how it is predicted, and why it is important, especially for solar flares to be predicted in order to protect radio communication on Earth.