Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Tony Diver

Northern Lights will be visible across Glasgow and Edinburgh tomorrow night

A solar storm on its way to Earth could mean the Northern Lights might be seen from the UK on Saturday night, forecasters have said.

The Met Office said the phenomenon, known as the aurora borealis, may be visible in Scotland.

Skies in Glasgow and Edinburgh are forecast to be cloudy on Saturday night, but there could be breaks long enough to reveal the lights.

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

The Northern Lights could be visible from Edinburgh and Glasgow (SWNS)

Stormchasing Scots film-maker risks life and limb for extreme weather TV series  

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

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.

Amazing northern lights display over the Sea Stacks at Noss Head, Caithness (SWNS)

"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."

Scottish weather forecast - Weekend outlook (23/03/2019)

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"

NOAA, an American agency that monitors the atmosphere, said the Northern Lights could be visible as far south as Michigan and Wisconsin in the United States.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.