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This flare seems to be the most significant solar event of solar cycle 24 so far.
There is a good chance that this event was accompanied by a major and fast CME.
SOHO LASCO images are not yet available.
As the flare site is right on the central solar meridian, a CME should be on a head on collisioncourse with earth magnetic field.
More infos will be posted, as they flow in.
The sunspot complex is still able to produce more major proton flares.
Clear skies!

 Ulrich

Update 1:

There was a wide full halo CME with this event. The speed is arround 1400 km/s. As normal CMEs slow down somewhat between sun and earth, the arrival time is calculated to be arround noon tomorrow (07/14).
give or take several hours.
Also the heliospheric current sheet, a region between different polarity solar magnetic field is incorporated in the CMEs plasma. This might lead to stronger effects at earth. A positive example for this is the storm of April 6th 2000.
Keep looking for more updates, as they become available.

A very big sunspot complex is rotating towards the center of the solar disc.
The complex consists of huge and complex sunspot group 11520 plus some (2 - 5) smaller sunspots (11519 and 11521 have numbers so far).
Especially region 11520 contains magnetic delta structures which can lead to significant solar flares.
Some medium duration low level M-class events have been observed so far.
There is a good chance for a major flare in the coming days.
X-class events seem to be possible.
In case of a major event, also significant coronal mass ejections should be launched into interplanetary space.
As the region rotates towards the central meridian in the coming days, those CMEs will become more and more geoeffective.
Keep an eye (with a safe solar filter) on that sunspot group. It is visible without any telescope. But remember always to protect your eyes with appropriate solar filters!
Clear skies!

 Ulrich

Middle Latitude Auroral Activity WARNING
Issued:21:25 UTC, 16 June 2012
Solar Terrestrial Dispatch
www.spacew.com

The impact of several (three) coronal mass ejections from the Sun is expected to produce conditions that may be favorable for enhancing auroral activity over the middle latitude regions. Activity has already intensified, but could reach stronger storm levels during the next 12 to
18 hours. Observations of auroral activity well into the middle latitude belts will be possible during this time. The main belt of activity is expected to commence within the next 6 hours and last approximately 12 to
18 hours.

End of WARNING statement

Solar Terrestrial Dispatch
04:00 UTC, 10 May 2012
www.spacew.com

Active sunspot complex 1476 is nearing the solar central meridian and is
well placed for producing Earthward-directed coronal mass ejections. It is
currently large and magnetically complex, with a dominantly east-west
oriented neutral line and growing evidence of higher levels of magnetic
shear developing between the main leader spot and the smaller opposite
polarity spot located just equatorward of the leader.

We believe there is a notable probability of observing a major M and/or
X-class flare from this spot complex during the next 3 to 5 days. The
potential for a major proton producing flare (resulting in increased
high-energy radiation in the near-Earth space environment) is also
notable. The probability of observing an increase in energetic proton
populations will probably increase over the next week.

-- End of Statement --

Hi Brian, sounds like you love WI as much as i do - it's like being on an eternal vacation.
Sorry you didn't get to see the display.
Hopefully we'll get as much from this solar max as we did from the last one.
What a ride that was!!

I was in Chicago, didnt see a thing lol.

Carol, I moved up to Pembine since last solar max to your neck of the woods to be closer to fishing, camping, and aurora.
Camping pretty much consists of sleeping in the yard and watching the stars at night. My house is pretty much in the woods.

Geoeffective coronal holes are for the most part easy to photograph now at my new latitude....im lovin it!

Brian

I was out with the 16" dob tonight and the Aurora was bright enough to read by. 

It began as a diffuse glow and eventually separated into upper and lower bands.
Then the bands vanished and 'needles' of structure were detected.
They weren't wide enough to be considered 'beams', but they were definitely there... lots of them.
 
After the structure faded, i could definitely see a green color.. absolutely lovely.
I could kick myself for not bringing the camera. 

Carol Lakomiak
Tomahawk WI

I went outside and could only see a few stars off to the north, with Polaris just barely visible. At first I thought it was cloud cover, then as my eyes adjusted I could tell that the entire northern sky was Aurora. So far it is just a diffuse green glow with no features, but it is relatively bright. My location, near Minot, ND, USA.

The shockfront of the CME from an M7.9 solar flare impacted earth shortly after noon on 03/15.
Afterwards the IMF was oriented mostly southward.
This configuration of the IMF lead to a minor to moderate geomagnetic storm.
Kp 12-15 UTC was 5
Lokal K-values in the 15-18 UTC interval are 6-7 so far on European magnetometers.
If the IMF orientation stays favorable (southward), further intensification of the storm might be observed.
Check the ACE MAG data and your local magnetometers and look at the northern (or southern) horizon after sunset.
Clear skies!

 Ulrich

This episode with active phases from region 11429 seems to be over now.
Unfortunately the CMEs always had strong Bt values in the initial phase of the disturbance which fall back to weak Bt values in the main phase.
Better "luck" next time...