UK weather forecast: Northern Lights could be visible from parts of Britain during chilly weekend

Jacob Jarvis22 March 2019

The dazzling Northern Lights could be visible from parts of Britain this weekend, according to forecasters.

Due to a solar storm voyaging towards Earth, the illuminations might be seen from Scotland, during a cool weekend across the UK.

The Met Office said the phenomenon, known as the aurora borealis,could appear in skies in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Though these are forecast to be cloudy on Saturday night, there could be breaks long enough to reveal the lights.

While further north, in the Scottish Highlands, or east, in Dundee and Aberdeen, the sky is likely to be clearer.

The Northern Lights are created by disturbances in Earth's magnetosphere, the region of space surrounding earth where the earths magnetic field dominates that of space.

These disturbances are caused by a flow of particles from the Sun and are usually concentrated around the Earth's magnetic poles.

The southward shift of the lights on Saturday is caused by an ejection of plasma which is known as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the Sun.

This followed a solar flare on Wednesday.

Frost could also settle overnight this weekend
PA

Bonnie Diamond, meteorologist at the Met Office, said: "A Coronal Mass Ejection has happened and the effects of that are expected to arrive later tomorrow evening.

"This type of active geomagnetic storm means that there is the possibility of the aurora borealis, commonly known as the Northern Lights.

The Northern Lights, pictured in Norway, could be visible from Britain
EPA/HEIKO JUNGE

"Whether or not you will see the Northern Lights depends on where you are and what the weather is like. Scotland is where you're most likely to see it.

"There's a couple of showers on the west coast of Scotland on Saturday evening, and with those showers there will be a bit of cloud.

"However, the clearest skies are further east in Aberdeenshire, where there are plenty of clear skies. Further north, you're pretty likely to see something."

The Met Office's Space account tweeted: "CME forecast to arrive late 23rd March following C5 flare from sunspot AR2736. Active-minor geomagnetic storm periods possible with low risk of moderate storms.

"As a result, aurora may be visible in Scotland where cloud breaks. Latest forecast available"

As well as predicting the lights, the Met Office has forecast a cool weekend ahead.

Matthew Box, a Met Office forecaster, said that the weekend will see a "chillier feel" than in recent days.

The high over the weekend is set to be 12c, with some places seeing frost as temperatures dip overnight.

On Saturday, to the north it will be cloudy with patchy rain.

Commenting on the south of England and London, he said there should be a "fair amount of sunshine" on Sunday.

"The best day of the weekend is Sunday," he told the Standard.