Yahoo News Police called as 200 Northern Light stargazers get trapped on Castle Hill in Huddersfield
Around 200 cars became stuck on Castle Hill last night as stargazers arrived in their droves to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights.
West Yorkshire Police were called to the Huddersfield landmark late last night after cars became trapped in bumper-to-bumper traffic and tempers started to flare.
It followed the spectacular display across Yorkshire on Friday night when the Northern Lights were visible in a rare phenomenon seen only once or twice in a lifetime.
With the Met Office predicting that the lights would be visible again on Saturday, hundreds flocked up to Castle Hill to see them again - but left disappointed after they failed to show.
As these pictures show, cars then struggled to park up and upon leaving, became trapped in 40 minutes of traffic - with the police arriving to help sort the situation out.
One hopeful stargazer told Yorkshire Live: “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."
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