Sunspot activity continued this week; new group 1035 emerged December 14, following group 1034 that appeared December 9. Daily sunspot numbers since December 9 through December 17 have been 13, 13, 13, 12, 14, 28, 38, 30 and 24. Solar flux values have been above 80 since December 15, with the values from Tuesday through Thursday of this week at 81.6, 83.2 and 86.9. The number at 2000 UTC (local noon in Penticton) is the official daily number, and on December 17 at 1800 UTC, the flux value was 88.1 -- higher than any flux value in the past three years. The last time the 10.7 cm flux was higher was December 15, 2006 at 88.2. Just three days prior to that on December 12, 2006, it was 104.2. It wasn't long ago that flux values were in the 60s, but we haven't seen solar flux below 70 since October 16, 2009, at 69.6.
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