Halloween aurora brings green and purple skies to parts of the UK

Halloween came with northern lights across parts of the UK on Saturday, October 31, 2026, according to BBC Weather. Its reports placed the clearest sightings in Scotland and Northern Ireland.⁴⁵

What happened

Photographs from several named locations were submitted through BBC Weather Watchers. The broadcaster said pictures had been submitted through BBC Weather Watchers.⁴

The timing brought together increased solar wind and a break in the weather. BBC Weather described clearer conditions in parts of the north as rain and cloud shifted south. IBTimes separately reported a green glow over Nairn and coloured bands above parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.⁴⁵¹

This was not described as one of the strongest recent displays. IBTimes reported a comparatively gentler event, while BBC Weather said auroral activity carried on more weakly into Sunday night. The later Met Office outlook pointed toward activity settling down rather than building into a sustained stronger display.¹⁵³

Why it spread

The online story centred on photographs: green, purple and pink skies appearing on Halloween, shared by skywatchers and carried by news outlets. BBC Weather’s collection gave that spectacle a series of recognisable locations, while IBTimes also highlighted the colour above Nairn.⁴¹

There is a photographic qualification to those colours. Long exposures can make auroras appear brighter and more colourful than they look to an unaided observer. In the Guardian report syndicated by AOL, meteorologist Greg Dewhurst also explained that cameras may record auroral light farther south than the area forecast for naked-eye visibility. That report concerned an earlier October event, not Halloween.²

What is true

The Halloween sightings are supported by BBC Weather’s reporting, but the original submission trail remains incomplete.⁴⁵

The Met Office space-weather assessment published on November 2 provides supporting context. It recorded geomagnetic conditions reaching active to minor-storm levels before easing, and solar-wind speeds declining from an initial 500–600 kilometres per second to 440–510.³

Another boundary matters: the Guardian/AOL report was published on October 11. Its accounts of sightings in Kent and Surrey, and its forecasts for the following nights, belong to that earlier episode. They are not evidence that the Halloween display reached those places. For October 31, the named photographic locations come from BBC Weather’s November 1 coverage.²⁴