The geomagnetic storm that lasted almost a week has ended.

A rather prolonged surge in geomagnetic activity, which began on March 20th (last Friday), appears to have finally ended. The day before yesterday, the event experienced a slight false start, when solar wind parameters seemed to begin to decline rapidly, but ultimately lingered at a disturbed level for another two days.

The event was a combination of the effects of a coronal hole and several medium-sized plasma clouds approaching the planet, and was predicted in advance. Its expected strength was also reported to be quite significant—the strongest in two months (which turned out to be the case), and its duration was expected to be about a week (which, again, was roughly consistent with reality). There was a relatively small error in the start time of the disturbances—they began about half a day late, resulting in a minor surge of disturbances not on the Sun, but in forums and chats.

Currently, all solar wind parameters have returned to normal. The likelihood of weak surges remains, but at a normal, everyday level. Today is likely the last day when a brief echo is possible. Starting tomorrow, the forecast is completely green.