Sun Ushers In 2025 With X-Class Solar Flare, Triggering Radio Blackouts

On January 3, the Sun unleashed a powerful X1.2 solar flare, the first one in 2025, causing radio blackouts in parts of South America and Africa.

The new year began with a dramatic display from the sun, which unleashed a major solar flare early on Friday, January 3. The solar flare, classified as an X-class event with a strength of X1.2, erupted at 6:39 AM (Eastern Time) and reached its peak at 5:41 PM on Friday, January 3.

It originated from the sunspot region AR 3947, according to NASA. The burst of energy from the solar flare caused radio blackouts in portions of the Southern Atlantic, Africa, and eastern South America, reported space.com. Such blackouts can result in the full or partial loss of high-frequency (HF) radio signals in areas exposed to sunlight during the event.

Solar flares are categorised into four classes based on their intensity, with each successive class being ten times stronger than the one before it. X-class flares represent the most powerful category, followed by M, C, and B-class flares. Within each class, a numerical value further specifies the flare's strength — in this instance, 1.2.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) rated this event as an R3, or "Strong," blackout on its Space Weather Scale, which ranks radio blackout events from R1 (Minor) to R5 (Extreme). The R3 designation places the flare just below the "Severe" (R4) and "Extreme" (R5) categories.

SWPC said there was no coronal mass ejection (CME) linked to this solar flare. CMEs, which consist of magnetic fields and plasma, can lead to geomagnetic storms on Earth, potentially affecting power grids and producing auroras visible in lower latitudes.

Forecasters anticipate minor to moderate radio blackouts could occur through the weekend, with additional activity from active sunspot regions likely until January 5.

Space.com further reported that a geomagnetic storm watch remains in effect for a G1-class storm, the weakest category, during the same period. This is linked to a CME observed earlier in the week. Higher latitudes, such as Alaska and Canada, have the best chances of aurora sightings resulting from this storm.