Police called after 200 cars trapped as people try to see Northern Lights

Hundreds of vehicles were left stranded after crowds of stargazers flocked to a well-known landmark in hopes of seeing the Northern Lights.

Police were called to Castle Hill in Huddersfield last night after 200 cars became trapped in bumper-to-bumper traffic - causing tensions to rise among visitors.

It came after Friday's extraordinary spectacle when the Northern Lights were visible across the UK in a seldom-seen phenomenon that typically occurs just once or twice in a lifetime.

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With the Met Office forecasting another appearance of the lights on Saturday (May 11), hundreds ascended Castle Hill in anticipation but were left disheartened when the lights failed to show.

Photos showed drivers had difficulty finding parking spaces and were later were caught in a 40-minute traffic jam - with police being called to help manage the situation, Yorkshire Live reports.

One optimistic stargazer said: "We went to see the lights and noticed Castle Hill was busier than usual.

“On arriving, we met up to 100 cars battling to get a space in an already full car park. We struggled to get out and was stuck in traffic for 40 mins. The police turned up to help traffic.

“People were getting annoyed with the amount of cars there.”

Simon King, the lead weather presenter at BBC, shed some light on Saturday night's failed Northern Lights viewing. Cloud cover reportedly played spoilsport, obscuring view of the spectacular natural phenomenon for star-gazers across Yorkshire and the UK.

Mr King explained that while a decrease in aurora activity was predicted as Saturday night approached, it declined abruptly just as darkness fell, leading to "really bad timing".

However, it might not be the end of the road for those eagerly awaiting the next display. The forecast suggests that there's potential for witnessing the Northern Lights yet again from Sunday night into Monday morning.

However, clouds are anticipated to play an unhelpful role once more.

Simon King took to X, previously known as Twitter, to share his thoughts: "Wondering what happened to the aurora last night? As suggested yesterday, activity was expected to decrease, but it dropped off quickly just as it went dark. Really bad timing unfortunately."

He added: "After the Northern Lights disappointment of last night, there's still lots of solar activity so potential tonight (though cloud/showers may be a problem for some). Unlikely to be as good as Friday night, but geomagnetic levels of severe (G4) are forecast."