January Solar Storm

In late January 2026, space weather enthusiasts and photographers around the world were treated to something truly special, a solar storm of remarkable strength, the most powerful seen since the infamous Halloween storms of 2003.

Dunstanburgh Castle under the northern lights

On January 18, the Sun unleashed an X-class flare that hurled a massive coronal mass ejection (CME) straight toward Earth. When that CME slammed into our planet’s magnetic field on the evening of January 19 it triggered a severe geomagnetic storm (G4) and an S4 “severe” solar radiation storm, levels so rare they hadn’t been seen in more than 20 years.

I had big hopes of photographing this storm myself. On Monday night when the CME impact and peak geomagnetic activity were expected to create spectacular auroras, all I saw was blank cloudy skies here in the UK!

Luckily Tuesday evening brought a brief spell of clear skies so I made the drive up to Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland. The aurora was there, vivid greens and curtains of light flickering above the horizon. But by then the storm’s most intense phase had passed I had unfortunately missed it. I did manage to grab some photos, though they weren’t quite the jaw dropping spectacle I’d imagined.

It was incredibly windy as you can see from the cloud movement

Looking out to sea you can see the edge of the storm

Here are a few screenshots I took during which show some magnitude of the event.