Ahhh. that mystical earth science!

Well here's something to hopefully make your life easier. Some early warnings for aurora, e-skip on 144Mhz, solar x-rays, and geomagnetic field. This page refreshes every 5 minutes.

VHF Aurora:
144 MHz E-Skip in EU:
From The DXrobot
Solar X-rays:
Geomagnetic Field:
From n3kl.org

useful links:
rsgb propagation page. just about every link you could wish for
Space Environment Center
William Hepburn's excellent tropospheric ducting forecast
John Harder's VHF propagation maps from APRS data