Updated Forecast for Solar Cycle 25 Predicts Solar Minimum This Spring, Maximum in 2025

Updated forecast for Solar Cycle 25 (far right)
in comparison with Cycles 23 and 24.
(NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center image)

An international panel of solar experts has released an updated prediction for Cycle 25. The group is chaired by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA.

The December 9 forecast update continues the previous prediction that Cycle 25 will be of average intensity and similar to currently-ending Cycle 24. A more specific timing prediction forecasts that official solar minimum between Cycles 24 and 25 will come this April (+/- 6 months) and that Cycle 25 will peak in July, 2025 (+/- 8 months) with a maximum smoothed sunspot number of 115.

The update notes that, if the April 2020 forecast minimum is correct, Cycle 24 will have lasted 11.4 years and will be the 7th-longest on record.