At www.spaceweather.com (8th October 2019) we have solar minimum and the Sun has been blank (no spots) for 28 out of the last 30 days. In such a situation solar flares and certainly not on the scale to breach Earth's magnetosphere. However, we have just an Arctic auroar outburst – without the whiff of a sun spot. The image below was taken in Norway …
… What happened? The web site tells us it is the Russell McPherson Effect. During the weeks around the equinoxes (Halloween in this instance) cracks sometimes open in Earth's magnetic field and this allows the solar wind to enter the magnetosphere. The invading plasma creates an Arctic light show.
At the same web site on 9th October 2019 we have a giant double sprite seen from the Caribbean … but it s a giff image which I can't upload. You will have to go to www.spaceweather.com and click scroll down to the 9th of October and click on 'view' to see the animation. Well worth the trouble as these phenomena were unknown to science until recently.