{"id":552960,"date":"2026-03-22T09:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T09:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/552960\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T09:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T09:31:13","slug":"northern-lights-to-appear-in-uk-tonight-when-and-where-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/552960\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Lights to appear in UK tonight: When and where to watch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p>Britain\u2019s skies are set to show another display of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/travel\/news-and-advice\/northern-lights-aurora-borealis-where-b2870746.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Northern Lights<\/a> on Saturday night after parts of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/uk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UK<\/a> enjoyed views of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/aurora\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">auroras<\/a> overnight. <\/p>\n<p>The natural phenomenon is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/aurora-borealis-northern-lights-us-alaska-b2904291.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rare occurrence<\/a> in the UK, and requires a severe or extreme geomagnetic storm to bring the aurora belt southwards from Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. <\/p>\n<p>Although the spectacle is more often seen near the Arctic Circle and northern <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/scotland\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scotland<\/a>, it was visible as far south as Norfolk on Friday night, with forecasters expecting some to see lights again on Saturday night. <\/p>\n<p>The Met Office said: \u201cThe Northern Lights can produce a spectacular light show sometimes seen as far south as Scotland and Northern England\/Ireland &#8211; if skies are clear.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SEI290402154.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"The Northern Lights could be seen in Northumberland on Friday night\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>The Northern Lights could be seen in Northumberland on Friday night (Owen Humphreys\/PA Media Assignme)<\/p>\n<p>The lights are forecast to be visible until midnight on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Aurora borealis displays<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/science\/northern-lights-aurora-borealis-explanation-wrong-magnetic-field-earth-a7233936.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> are caused by massive explosions<\/a> on the sun known as coronal mass ejections (CME). The particles that erupt from the sun\u2019s surface interact with gases in Earth&#8217;s atmosphere and create a colourful display that can be seen 100 to 200km above Earth. <\/p>\n<p>Oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases in the atmosphere light up in reds, blues, and pinks. <\/p>\n<p>Some pictures from Friday showed the sky illuminated green at Bamburgh in Northumberland in the UK. People also reported seeing the lights in Canada and Russia.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/finland-northern-lights-for-calendar-evergreen.jpeg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Northern lights in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>Northern lights in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the Met Office said to \u201ckeep an eye out\u201d for the northern lights over the next couple of nights, adding that \u201csightings are most likely across Scotland where skies are clear but perhaps into northern England too\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The weather agency encouraged people to find a dark location with no light pollution, and look toward the northern horizon, for their best chance at seeing the auroras.<\/p>\n<p>Its space weather forecast for Saturday said: \u201cOngoing influence from recent Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and the expectation of increasing solar wind speeds into the 22 March will likely maintain enhanced geomagnetic activity. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAurora likely to be visible across higher latitudes and potentially viewable further south at times, particularly in long exposure photography, however any cloud cover will limit viewings. A slowly decreasing chance of enhanced auroral visibility likely into the period.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-552960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}