October Monthly Meeting: Active Solar Cycle 25: What You Want to Know!
Location: Zoom + In-Person at First Evangelical Lutheran Church (803 3rd Ave, Longmont, CO 80501)
Summary
Inform about space weather risks and hazards, and provide it in an informative and contextual context. Discuss the highly active Solar Cycle 25 and how the cycle continues to be quite prolific. Relate primary solar storms of concern and potential impacts to our society and the technology we rely upon. Describe the historical May 2024 G5 (Extreme) geomagnetic storm, its effects and impacts, and what was accomplished by SWPC to make this extreme solar storm the most successfully mitigated in history. Provide a background of other historical space weather events from the past and how they could be majorly impactful today for what is historically possible, yet overdue. Relate this complex and little understood natural hazard to help attendees understand the Space Weather Prediction Center's role and operational support in this realm. Finally, discussion throughout will focus on sunspots, space weather activity/storms of interest, what they are, what they mean, and how they are associated with each other. A side goal will be to give attendees a better understanding of the solar wind, changes, and other influencers and what that means for auroral viewing potential.
Bio
Mr. Shawn Dahl is a U.S. Air Force (USAF) retiree (22 years) where he spent most of his career in the field of meteorology and space weather. He retired from active duty in 2007 and held several meteorological forecasting positions with the USAF and the NWS until 2015, when he was hired as a physical scientist and senior space weather forecaster by the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). He was selected as SWPC’s first Service Coordinator in August of 2023 and now leads Impact-based Decision Support Services (IDSS) issues, relations, and products. He also leads education/outreach initiatives and efforts, and conducts many customer and partner interactions on behalf of SWPC - to include working with the press/media, broadcast meteorologists, and the emergency management community.