Will the Northern Lights be visible over Greater Manchester tonight if you missed them on Friday?

All eyes were on the skies across Greater Manchester on Friday night as the Northern Lights dazzled and lit up the city region.

And forecasters today predicted a high chance of the stunning spectacle repeating itself on Saturday night.

The visibility of the northern lights – also known as the aurora borealis – was increased on Friday due to an “extreme” geomagnetic storm, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

READ MORE: “It’s been a nine-year problem…they still haven’t learned their lesson”

NOAA said the G5 geomagnetic storm, considered extreme and the strongest level of geomagnetic storm, hit Earth for the first time on Thursday.

Caused by a “large and complex” sunspot group and 17 times the diameter of the earth, the last G5-rated storm hit the earth in October 2003 and caused power outages in Sweden.

NOAA said the lights could be seen as far south as Alabama and southern California in the US – and Greater Manchester didn’t miss out.

ITV meteorologist Chris Page said that while aurora activity was “expected to decrease”, there was still a “high chance” the lights would be visible on Saturday night.

Mr Page said, cloud permitting, the best chance of seeing the lights tonight was between 10pm and 2am on Sunday morning. Clear skies, he added, are likely to be again Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the Met Office has produced a chart predicting the “probability of aurora”.

At its height at 10pm on Saturday, the chart predicts light shows north of Greater Manchester towards the Scottish border, so whether or not it will be visible here remains to be seen.

Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said: “Those conditions could continue on Saturday evening, but we still need to work out some details about exactly where that will be.”

Mr Dixon said the combination of clear skies and increased activity from the sun reaching Earth would improve the chances of seeing the display.

Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles. In the Northern Hemisphere, most of this activity takes place in a band known as the auroral oval, which covers latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees.

When the activity is strong, it spreads out to cover a larger area – which explains why displays can occasionally be seen as far south as the UK.

Mr Page said top tips for seeing the aurora borealis included looking towards the northern horizon, finding dark and open spaces and being persistent.

Cameras, he added, capture lights better.