Aurora Forecast Tonight: Northern Lights Likely Across US, Including New York

The aurora borealis—better known as the northern lights—is likely to be visible across the top of the United States, and perhaps even in some central states, as a strong geomagnetic storm hits the Earth across Thursday and Friday.

The greatest likelihood of sightings stretches from New York in the east to Washington state in the west, but the view line goes as far south as Wyoming, Nebraska, and Iowa, according to a forecast map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center.

Viewing the northern lights is highly dependent on the strength of the geomagnetic storm and the weather. The stronger the storm and the clearer the night sky, the likelier it is that the phenomenon will be visible to humans.

Early on Thursday morning, the NOAA Space