In the recent IARU contest 15 Meter conditions showed a radical improvement over last year, though the solar flux was only around 110. The daypath to Europe in the morning brought a lot of activity to the band, and some really good running rates. Signals propagate nicely over regions where it is evening, then extend to regions of daylight. Another such path is the morning path to southeast Asia.
Conditions are even good over the pole into central Asia during windows in the morning and evening.
All these paths will continue to improve in coming years, and additional openings will occur on 15 that require the higher solar flux. Expect conditions to deteriorate rapidly on 15 over the coming month. We loose 10 Meters for high latitude DX work beginning in May through August even at the top of the cycle for the same reason. Midsummer conditions aren't good for the low bands either, because of the high static levels. Thus, DX activity in mid-summer tends to concentrate on 20 Meters due to a lack of other options.