The UK was treated to the phenomenon last year as skies lit up
The Met Office has suggested the Northern Lights may be visible from parts of the UK today, January 1. The spectacular phenomenon lit up skies across Britain and Ireland last year in what was a rare appearance.
Stargazers will be hoping the New Year brings a splash of colour to the night sky with the Met Office’s latest solar activity update. In their space weather forecast, the Met Office say: “A coronal mass ejection (CME) arrival is expected on 1st Jan, with Minor/Moderate storm likely, with a slight chance of Strong storm.”
Reflecting on the solar activity from New Year’s Eve, the weather body said it has been moderate with three moderate class flares during the past 24 hours, with the peak flare originating from a relatively small and moderately complex region in the northwest.
The most magnetically complex region on the disc, located in the northwest and approaching the limb, produced the majority of the flare activity, including a long-duration M-class flare. Looking ahead to the coming days the Met Office suggests there will be generally moderate solar activity with isolated Moderate-class flares, and a slight but declining chance of isolated Strong-class flares, mainly from the region in the northwest which will rotate onto the far side through the forecast period.
Geomagnetic activity is expected to be predominantly unsettled to active today, January 1, but with isolated Minor/Moderate storm intervals likely. The CME effects will gradually wane through days Day 2 and 3, January 2 and 3, back towards quiet to unsettled conditions.
The combination of the CME arrivals will bring slightly enhanced geomagnetic conditions today, according to the Met Office and possibly early tomorrow, January 2 with a chance of visible aurora across northern Scotland, perhaps southern Scotland and Northern Ireland depending on cloud cover. Geomagnetic activity then is expected to gradually decline to background levels.