The reason you might have didn’t see you missed Northern Lights on Saturday
The Northern Lights waned early on Saturday night, but then picked back up later.
By Simon King – BBC Weather
After the spectacular Northern Lights display on Friday night, expectations were high that we would see similar on Saturday.
The activity of the geomagnetic field was high all day on Saturday, which means the aurora was over our heads but unfortunately not in the time when the skies were dark enough for us to see it.
There was evidence that activities would not fall into an severe “G5” category as it was on Friday night, but it would be weakened to a serious “G3”.
At this stage, there was still a little hope that aurora might still be visible throughout the UK.
It was actually at this point into evening, but as the darkness fell the geomagnetic level fell to below thresholds, leaving a lot of us disappointed finding nothing.
The activity picked up again shortly after midnight, however most of us could have given up at this time.
With a huge sunspot oriented toward Earth there was a lot of solar activity lately.
Multiple Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) similar to volcanoes – originate from sunspots. They emit high-energy particles to space. And when they are directed toward Earth they create the aurora.
The CMEs are able to have different strength and speeds, so they may sometimes catch ahead and grow stronger upon impact with Earth.
Forecasters from NOAA as well as The Met Office Space Weather centre predict the arrival of a strong CME on Sunday and through Monday.
Geomagnetic activity is predicted to be intense to severe (G4) with the possibility of an increase from time up to the extreme (G5).
So, if you want to have another chance to witness the aurora borealis – wherever in the UK You might want to be on the lookout for the skies on a Sunday night.
But, there’s more clouds – and thundery showers – sweeping across Scotland across northern England and some parts of the Midlands which could limit chances of seeing the aurora.
