An X1.1 solar flare erupted from sunspot region 4479 at 20:50 UTC on June 30, sending a coronal mass ejection into space after the region intensified into a complex Beta-Gamma-Delta configuration.
Type II and IV radio sweeps and SOHO/LASCO coronagraph images confirmed the CME, which showed a faint halo but appeared aimed north of the Sun-Earth line with only a minimal Earth-directed component.
A July 3 impact is still in the official forecast, with agencies warning of geomagnetic storm conditions up to G2 even though the report's authors expect, at most, a glancing blow.
Sunspot region 4478 also remains a threat: it has an even more complex magnetic layout and had already produced numerous M-class flares on July 1.