Takes 8.5 mins for the sun's light to get here.

Takes 18+ hrs for charged particles to get here.

I get that there was a solar flare a few days ago

The last two nights the sky has been a blue color

Lighter than the silhouettes of coniferous trees to the north of my house

Charged particles will do that.

But why is the sun so bright?

For the past two days I have had to wear

Two pairs of sunglassesto handle the reflections from other cars

This means the sun has been shining a heck of a lot brighter for two days!!!