Geminid Meteor Shower: when it peaks, how to see it in Sheffield and Met Office weather forecast

The spectacular Geminid Meteor Shower is set to hit its peak tonight, and many across Sheffield will no doubt be hoping to catch a glimpse. The shower can be visible throughout most of December, but this year the night of December 13 is set to be the best chance to spot it.

The shower is said to be one of the most active of the year and it has peaked at 150 meteors per hour in the past. The Royal Museums Greenwich says it is the one major shower that shows good activity before midnight.

According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, the best place to see the meteor shower is at a safe location which is away from street lights and other types of light pollution. A wide open space is also best, as the meteors can be seen across the skies.

You can trace the paths that the meteors take and they seem to originate from the Gemini constellation. The museums also recommend bringing a comfy chair and getting wrapped up warm as the art of meteor watching can be one that becomes a bit of a waiting game.

Something to note for those hoping to spot meteors before midnight is the rising gibbous moon. It is set to rise at around 9.30pm tonight and the light from the moon is likely to down out some of the dimmer meteors.

What is the Geminid Meteor shower?

The Geminid Meteor Shower is one of the last significant showers in the calendar. At its peak, it has regularly surpassed 100 meteors per hour.

Royal Museums Greenwich say that, although Gemineds Meteors appear to radiate from near the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini, the actual source is an asteroid. The shooting stars come from a stream of debris left behind by asteroid 3200 Phaethon. making this one of the only major showers not to originate from a comet.

Sheffield Met Office weather forecast

Unfortunately, the weather forecast for Sheffield tonight doesn’t look great if you are a meteor hunter. Cloud could block out any scans of the sky until as late as 2am, so you might need to play the long game if you want to get lucky.

It will be a freezing night for much of the region with the ‘feels like’ temperature potentially reaching as low as -5C in Sheffield. So if you are heading out tonight, you’ll need at least your big coat on.

Below is the Met Office forecast for Yorkshire and the Humber today and tonight:

Today:

A cold start with a widespread frost, low cloud and freezing fog and the Pennines may also see the odd snow flurry. However these will fade to leave a cold but generally dry day, with some eventual weak sunny spells developing and a maximum temperature of 2 °C.

Tonight:

Another cold evening and night, with a widespread severe frost. Scattered snow showers will mainly affect coastal districts to bring a risk of icy patches.

Further freezing fog will develop inland and a minimum temperature of -8 °C.