At http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/02/19/solar-forbush-decrease-in-progress/ … a forbush decrease is apparently a rapid decrease in the observed cosmic ray intensity following a coronal mass ejection. It occurs as a result of the magnetic field of the solar wind sweeping some of the galactic cosmic rays away from the earth – and that is going on right now.
Over at Modern Survival blog it says a burning solar plasma stretching some 300,000 miles long and lifting as high as 100,000 miles above the surface of the Sun is going on – firing off a CME directly towards the earth. At www.digitalsky.org.uk there is a gallery of images of the Sun over the last few days.