SC25 officially began as of December 2019, and was given a forecasted maximum sunspot number (SSN) of 115, predicted to take place around July 2025, as stated by NOAA. As the months passed, sunspot numbers quickly began to exceed the forecast for any given month in the middle of 2020, which then accelerated further in the beginning of 2021. As of March 2021, the sunspot number was regularly well above the forecasted amount, leading to a smoothed average over double what was predicted. Arrive at January 2023, NOAA had a forecasted average value of 63.4, whereas the measured value landed on 143.6!

As a comparison, this number is slightly higher than the first monthly average peak in SC24, and just barely under the second peak. More impressively in the numbers for January is the second index that is observed during the solar cycle, the Solar Flux Index, also denoted as the f10.7.

A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on 15th February 2023 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since 10th February 2023.

The club—the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB)—is not pointing fingers yet.

But the circumstantial evidence is at least intriguing. The club’s silver-coated, party-style, “pico balloon” reported its last position on 10th February 2023 at 38,910 ft. off the west coast of Alaska, and a popular forecasting tool—the HYSPLIT model provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—projected the cylindrically shaped object would be floating high over the central part of the Yukon Territory on Feb. 11. That is the same day a Lockheed Martin F-22 shot down an unidentified object of a similar description and altitude in the same general area.

Fluke Corporation has identified a potential safety issue affecting certain Fluke 83V, 87V and 88V Digital Multimeters (‘Fluke 8x V series DMMs’).

As a precautionary measure, Fluke has decided to alert customers to the potential safety issue, and request that users perform a simple check to verify the unit is not impacted by the safety issue.