Northern Lights could be seen in England and Wales tonight and tomorrow
Space experts say there is a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights as far south as southern England tonight and tomorrow night.
The Met Office has issued a geomagnetic storm watch for a G3 storm from May 10 to May 12 after coronal mass ejections left the surface of the sun a few days ago.
Liam Dutton, a Channel 4 News weather presenter, said: "A recent coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun is likely to cause high geomagnetic activity late Friday into early Saturday.
"If it arrives during darkness, there's the possibility of the aurora borealis being visible as far south as southern England and South Wales."
In the US, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center is monitoring the sun following a series of solar flares and CMEs that began on May 8.
Space weather forecasters have issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch for the evening of Friday, May 10. Additional solar eruptions could cause geomagnetic storm conditions to persist through the weekend, they say.
"A large sunspot cluster has produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday. At least five flares were associated with CMEs that appear to be Earth-directed. SWPC forecasters will monitor NOAA and NASA’s space assets for the onset of a geomagnetic storm."
CMEs are explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona. They cause geomagnetic storms when they are directed at Earth.
Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations.
SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action. Geomagnetic storms can also trigger spectacular displays of aurora on Earth.
