The northern lights lit up America’s skies. Here’s who might see an encore tonight

The northern lights lit up skies across much of the United States late Tuesday after a solar flare triggered a geomagnetic storm.

Forecasters had said the aurora borealis could be visible over a large portion of the country. In many states, green and purple hues were seen after sunset, with the lights most vibrant in the evening before the moonrise.

The Space Weather Prediction Center issued a geomagnetic storm watch before the event. Officials said a coronal mass ejection on Sunday traveled toward Earth at 4.4 million mph, aligning with the planet’s orbit and interacting with its magnetic field.

Severe geomagnetic storms can cause issues on the ground, the center said, including “possible widespread voltage control problems, and some protective systems [that] will mistakenly trip out k