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It's connected to the Sun's activity cycle. Right now, Earth is in a period of increased solar activity - we're at the maximum of the 11-year cycle. When there are more flares and plasma ejections from the Sun, these particles reach Earth's magnetosphere and trigger magnetic storms. Those are what create the northern lights, and sometimes the geomagnetic disturbances are so strong that the aurora becomes visible much further south than usual.
In previous years, when activity was lower, you could only see the aurora in polar regions. Now people at more southern latitudes have gotten the chance to witness this phenomenon - for example, residents of European Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine regularly catch flashes on camera and with their own eyes. Social media naturally amplified this effect: back then people just didn't post every aurora online, but now everyone around them finds out about it.
The activity maximum usually lasts several years, so such events will keep happening pretty often in the near future. If you live at latitudes where this didn't happen before, it's worth keeping track of geomagnetic activity forecasts - there are special apps and websites that warn you about the likelihood of aurora.
I've caught the northern lights a couple of times even in the middle latitudes, and it really has become more noticeable over the past couple of years. Yeah, solar activity cycles are the main thing here, but there's another angle too - observation technology has improved, people have gotten more active about looking for it, there's more talk about it on social media, and that creates the impression that it's happening more often. Life hack: it's easier to catch the northern lights if you're far from the city, you look toward the northern horizon at night after magnetic storms, and you check the space forecast - there are apps and websites that show the geomagnetic activity index a day or two ahead.
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