The CME (and flares in general) are akin to you (the sun) standing in the middle of the lawn holding a running water hose, As you turn, the spray of water forms a curve. The person in the lawn chair (the earth) only gets wet when the spray passes over the chair.
The stuff ejected from the sun only affects the earth if the spray path sweeps over the earth
The CME particles will increase signal absorption around the poles and move the aurora zones further away from the poles. Signals using high latitude reflection paths passing through the expanded zone are absorbed. For example, signals between eNAm and nEu are absorbed. With the usual mix of multiple transmitters from nEu gone, there are two possibilities (generally).
Signals using low-latitude reflection paths will appear to be improved. It is a combination of slightly more ionization outside the expanded aurora zone. For example, it was such a combination of events that on one 1960's Monday morning I heard Rome on 844 fading out at their sunrise and Tarawa in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pacific fading in on 845. Really neat to watch the varying signal strengths and signal fading rates on the panadaptor tied into my HQ-150.
Trans-equatorial (N-S) path signals from LAm/SAm will be appear to be better than usual. Some the particles instead of being attracted to the poles increase the reflectivity of signals, and on such a morning Radio Globo-860 (Brasil) and LRA-1030(?-I don't remember) (Argentina were listenable on my Hammarlund portable (yes, they marketed one).
In summary, the solar disruptions create abnormal conditions. But the sun's daily radiation changes on a nominal 11-year cycle. Not solar disturbances, but the daily radiation rises and falls affecting the D-, E- and F ionospheric layers. Liken this to a ping-pong ball bouncing off a bouncing off a tennis net. Make the tennis net holes smaller and more balls on higher frequencies will be reflected.
We are near the peak of a cycle -- radiation to move the MUF up and flares (to absorb signals -- now, so signals above 30 MHz into 6m ham band are frequently bounced around the E layer. In 1957-58 during monster F-layer activity I collected 6m cards from EI2W, CT1CO, KH6, KL7, some LU's, and VQ2PL. and I missed the first-ever JA opening to the my area of the east coast by 15 minutes.
My own take of "how come I can't hear anything" appeared in CQ in 1983. I made PDFs of my columns, available at
w2xq.com Bibliography.About 20 years ago I compiled and evaluated a list propagation and solar weather sites for Radio Netherlands' Media Network. A shadow of its former self
Propagation, Solar & Space Weather is here
HTH..
