We examine effects in the equatorial and polar magnetosphere during 9--13 May, 1999. Earth's field at geostationary orbit became closely dipolar for ~16 hours when solar wind densities nsw were <1 cm-3. Electron precipitation in the northern polar cap intensified as nsw decreased, with significant fluxes up to ~15 keV energy on May 11. The simultaneous precipitation void in the southern polar cap implies a very pronounced north-south asymmetry, also reflected in the hemispherical power deposition. With an intense and collimated strahl, these observations support the ideas of Fairfield and Scudder [1985> on the preferential entry of the strahl into the northern hemisphere under the observed IMF away sector as a source of the north-south precipitation asymmetry. The polar rain north-south asymmetry argues against an ejecta source for the solar wind drop-out. The temporal profiles of solar wind parameters were very asymmetric with respect to the time of minimum nsw, and strong compressions and substorm activity prevailed as nsw recovered. ¿ 2000 American Geophysical Union