Met Office Northern Lights alert as display could be seen again tonight

The Met Office has issued an alert as the Northern Lights could seen again in the UK tonight.

The rare phenomenon, also known as Aurora borealis, have been spotted in the sky over Merseyside and beyond last week. The visibility of the Northern Lights was increased last Friday because of an “extreme” geomagnetic storm, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

And now the Met Office says we could see the Lights again on Saturday night, into Sunday morning (May 18-19). And while weather experts say "significant" sightings are "considered unlikely", there is a chance the aurora could be visible to the naked eye in parts of northern England and North Wales.

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Part of the Met Office alert reads: "There remains a slight chance that a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) could glance Earth overnight and potentially allow aurora to briefly become from parts of northern Scotland where skies are clear. An enhancement to the auroral oval is forecast to occur on Monday night (20-21 May) following the predicted arrival of a CME that left the sun late Friday 17 May.

"Following the CME arrival aurora are likely to become visible (where skies are clear) across parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, with a chance that at peak, views of the aurora may also be possible from northern England and North Wales to the ‘naked eye’."

Elsewhere AuroraWatch UK has issued a "red alert" which means "aurora [is] likely". It added: "It is likely the aurora will be visible by eye and camera from anywhere in the UK".

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