Northern Lights UK 2024: Aurora Borealis may be visible again this week as Met Office predicts exact dates

This is when Northern Lights will return to the UK this week - but will they be visible in your area?

If you missed the rare phenomenon of the Northern Lights last week, fear not, as there's a chance they may make a return to certain parts of Britain this week. Although there is a likelihood that it may not be quite as dazzling as last time, the forecasters say there remains a “slight chance” of glancing Coronal Mass Ejection impacts overnight on May 17 into May 18 in the Northern Hemisphere.

Forecasters told the Sun: "These may bring some limited enhancement to the aurora, with the slight potential of allowing for some visibility as far south as northern Scotland or similar latitudes.” This comes following an alert from AuroraWatch UK, which is run by scientists in the Space and Planetary Physics group at Lancaster University’s Department of Physics.

The website provides an hourly gauge to analyse geomagnetic activity, which helps predict the possible visibility of auroras in the UK. This morning, between 6am and 7am, the status indicated an "amber alert," meaning a high possibility of auroras being visible to the naked eye in Scotland, northern England, and Northern Ireland.

The "amber alert” indicates that the Northern Lights may be visible in other regions of the UK, with the prospect of capturing them from numerous points throughout the country. However, Lancaster University's Professor Jim Wild warned that the alert was triggered by a slight disruption and emphasised that there is nothing observable because it is currently daytime.

The stunning northern lights dazzling skies above Knaresborough on Friday evening

He told the outlet: "But that is for now and obviously it’s not dark, so there is nothing to see. No guarantees for later today as it’s likely things will have quietened down by sunset." This morning's "amber" rating is the highest ever recorded during a 24-hour period, with just one level higher: "red," suggesting a strong likelihood of auroras being visible both with the naked eye and with a camera from anywhere in the UK. The lowest alert level, "green," indicates that auroras are unlikely to be visible by eye or camera over Britain. Moving up from "green," the "yellow" signal indicates minimal geomagnetic activity, pointing to possible aurora sightings by eye in Scotland and through a camera in northern England and Northern Ireland. Over the last 24 hours, the majority of the alerts have remained at the lowest level, "green," with occasional transitions to "yellow."

The stunning northern lights dazzling skies above the Harrogate district on Friday evening

On Friday (May 10) Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, were snapped as far and wide as Whitley Bay on the north east coast, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Wokingham in Berkshire. They were also spotted in Suffolk, Kent, Hampshire and Liverpool.

The Irish weather service Met Eireann posting images of the lights in Dublin and at Shannon Airport in Co Clare. Kathleen Cunnea, in Great Horkesley, Essex, said: “It was absolutely stunning to see.”

The visibility of the Northern Lights was increased on Friday because of an “extreme” geomagnetic storm, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA said the G5 geomagnetic storm, which is considered extreme and is the strongest level of geomagnetic storm, hit earth on Thursday and threatening to affect communications, GPS and power grids.

The cause of this storm is a “large, complex” sunspot cluster and is 17 times the diameter of earth, with the last storm with a G5 rating hitting earth in October 2003, causing power outages in Sweden.