Northern Lights to be visible across certain areas of UK tonight
28 February 2025, 18:00
Brits could be in for spectacular viewing as the Northern Lights are set to be visible in certain areas of the UK tonight.
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The stunning displays could be seen “across the very far north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland tonight”, according to the Met Office.
The weather forecaster says the Northern Lights “can produce a spectacular light show sometimes seen as far south as Scotland and Northern England/Ireland - if skies are clear.”
A spokesperson for the Met Office added: “'A band of rain and cloud will move into the northwest tonight, so the most prolonged clear skies will be further east in Scotland and northern England."
It later wrote on X: “A fine evening to come with plenty of clear skies across much of the country.
“Cloud building in the far northwest, with rain arriving here later.”
Read more: Northern Lights seen across UK as people share spectacular sightings of the aurora borealis
The #aurora is currently visible across parts of northern Scotland, and perhaps southern Scotland and Northern Ireland thanks to an ongoing geomagnetic storm. Captured here by the webcam on Shetland 👇 pic.twitter.com/d7DXgL1j0p
— Met Office (@metoffice) February 28, 2025
Lucky residents in Dundee, Hopeman in Moray and the Shetland Islands, have already been treated to views of the phenomenon last night, with incredible pictures posted to social media.
The Met Office said this was possible due to a geomagnetic storm. It takes a severe or extreme geomagnetic storm to bring the natural aurora belt southwards directly over the UK.
It wrote in an X accompanied by an image of the Northern Lights on Thursday: “The #aurora is currently visible across parts of northern Scotland, and perhaps southern Scotland and Northern Ireland thanks to an ongoing geomagnetic storm. Captured here by the webcam on Shetland."
Last year, the lights were visible unusually far south, with people reporting stunning sightings across southern England on multiple unexpected occasions.
The primary cause of the intense brightness is that we’re currently at the peak of the Sun's 11-year activity cycle, which will last until 2025.
\At this peak, the Sun experiences a rise in eruptions, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections.These eruptions release powerful bursts of energy and material into space, resulting in phenomena like the auroras visible from Earth.
