The December night skies are delivering again. Last night there was the Aurora, a stunning halo around the moon and tonight it’s a Super Moon, the third and last of 2025. As we head into winter, this one was known as the ‘Cold Moon’. The Geminid meteor shower will be active between December 4th and 20th, with its peak on December 14th. Halos (around the sun or the moon) are produced by the refraction or reflection of light by ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Last night, the ice crystals were in a veil of cirrostratus cloud ahead of an occluded front.
Of course, we will need clear skies to appreciate any of this, and there is a low chance of seeing the Aurora again tonight (4th/5th) but focused on northern Scotland.
Aurora over the North Sea from East Lothian, evening 3rd December (photo StationHouseBakery)
Last night, the northern lights were visible across the UK for those without cloud. And that will be the problem again tonight. We have a very slow-moving occlusion moving across Britain on Thursday. This will bring cloud and outbreaks of rain, although some eastern parts have a sunny but cold start to the day. Behind the frontal band are clearer skies with sunshine but also a scattering of showers for SW England.
The combined satellite and radar from Thursday morning shows the pesky frontal band running north-south over Britain and the clear skies out west. What stands out is the white high cloud from the next low pressure out in the Atlantic. That will arrive from the southwest during Friday.
There might be a few breaks in the cloud for northern Scotland this evening, but overall the lingering front will keep a lot of cloud over Scotland, northern and eastern England with ongoing rain or showers. Wales, Northern Ireland and southern England should have clearer skies, which will help seeing the supermoon but Aurora spotting seems unlikely. The bright full moon works against viewing anyway. A small showery low centre will reach Northern Ireland by late evening with more cloud. It will turn colder overnight with a frost likely in SW Britain before midnight as the winds fall light.
Skies should clear later in the evening for SW Scotland, NW England and more of the Midlands into East Anglia. The moon will rise on Thursday afternoon, so we won’t get those dramatic horizon shots this time but as it falls dark so early at this time of year, there will be plenty of time to appreciate the bright appearance of the moon.
You might do better with the setting moon on Friday morning, but it won’t fully disappear before dawn. And it will be cold, frosty with some fog for inland southern England.
The lingering remains of Thursday’s occlusion will still be bringing showery outbreaks over eastern Scotland with wintry bits for the Cairngorms in the cold air. Next, we look to the southwest for another Atlantic low to end the working week.
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