The aurora borealis could light up UK skies again this weekend
A 24-hour Geomagnetic Storm Watch alert has been triggered from 6pm tonight, April 15, meaning parts of the UK could have another chance to spot the Northern Lights.
The Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, is caused by large explosions of activity from the Sun. These explosions throw out huge amounts of charged particles into space that collide with gas molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere, emitting light at various wavelengths which result in spectacular colourful displays.
A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is expected to arrive during Tuesday night which will make the aurora visible to “much of England”, however this does depend on cloud cover as you need a clear sky to view the night-sky phenomenon.
The CME is expected throughout the night on Tuesday and according to the Met Office, it is “likely” to make the phenomenon visible to parts of the UK.
The Met Office said: “This is likely to bring the auroral oval to northern parts of the UK and similar geomagnetic latitudes, with a chance of some visibility towards the northern horizon for much of England. However, cloud cover over much of the UK will limit aurora viewings. The auroral oval will ease to background levels thereafter.”
The geomagnetic activity will peak from around 9pm until 12am so this is when the aurora will be most visible. But it depends on where you are in the UK and the cloud cover in your area.
Exact time to see Northern Lights tonight
The Northern Lights will be most visible between 9pm and midnight tonight, April 15, however cloud cover doesn’t look too great at that time. Some clouds in the sky doesn’t necessarily mean it’s impossible to see the aurora borealis however so it is worth having a look anyway.
Lighter cloud can be seen around the Greater Manchester and Yorkshire area at 9pm, before getting a bit thicker by 10pm, so your best shot at seeing the Northern Lights will be around 9pm.
This space weather map shows the aurora forecast at 9pm. As you can see it is red, which means high chance of seeing the night-sky weather phenomenon at 9pm tonight over the UK.
