On Thursday, August 2, 2012 3:24:52 PM UTC-4, (unknown) wrote:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/kp_3d.html Kp=5 Jim (MI)

Using binoculars, I saw a huge sunspot at sunrise this morning, which for me was right after 6:00 a.m. outside Washington, DC. It looked like the transit of Venus. Really, it was that large and noticeable.

The atmosphere was so humidity-laden that I could look at the sun through the binoculars without any needing any glass from a welder's mask. YMMV.