Met Office names where Northern Lights will shine Wednesday in Aurora Borealis update
Some lucky Brits may be able to witness the spectacular displays.
A powerful solar flare could potentially spark northern lights displays over the UK today. This is due to a coronal mass ejection (CME) on May 10 - a large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona. They can eject billions of tons of coronal material and carry a strong magnetic field.
The eruption leaked at 1.13pm on Sunday and has been rotating into Earth's "strike zone" on the Sun's northeastern edge. The Met Office says part of the expanding plume of solar material could brush past Earth around May 13, which could trigger minor geomagnetic storm conditions, enhancing the northern lights across the UK and northern US.
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Those in northern Scotland have the greatest likelihood of glimpsing the spectacular display this evening, according to the Met Office. It said: "Auroral activity is expected to be mostly at background levels.
"However, there is the potential for a glancing CME (coronal mass ejection) arriving into early UTC on 13 May and also the likely onset of coronal hole fast winds on the 15 May.
"These events may bring some weak enhancement to the auroral oval, perhaps allowing sightings across northern Scotland and similar geomagnetic latitudes, where skies are clear."
However, the weather agency added: "No Earth-directed Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) were observed in the past 24hrs."
The northern lights are visible in the UK multiple times a year, particularly during active solar periods, with 2026 being a peak year.
While best seen in Scotland and high-latitude areas every few months, strong solar storms occasionally make them visible across the UK, including the south, between September and March.
They were last seen in the UK during intense displays on 23–24 March 2026, with significant sightings reported further south across the country earlier in the year.
The spectacular displays are created by solar activity, where charged particles from the Sun's atmosphere travel through space as solar wind and collide with gases in Earth's upper atmosphere.
These collisions excite oxygen and nitrogen atoms, which release energy in the form of glowing, colourful lights.
