A Super Rare Display of Northern Lights Is Happening Tonight In 18 States—Here’s How to See Them

If you’re in the northern U.S. with clear evening skies over the next several days, don’t miss the chance to look up—you might just catch the most spectacular light show on Earth.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a G3 (Strong) geomagnetic storm watch for Tuesday night, setting the stage for auroras to dazzle across 18 states. The potential light show comes courtesy of two powerful CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) that were ejected by the Sun on April 13th and are set to crash into Earth’s magnetic field over the next 24-48 hours. 

“These #solarstorms will likely travel slowly, but they are dense and thus could pack a decent punch!” Space Weather Physicist Tamitha Skov wrote in a post on X on April 13. “Still waiting for coronagraph data to inform model runs, but impact could be late April 15 or early April 16.”

Up to 18 states in the northern U.S. could be treated to the aurora’s stunning glow this evening, with prime viewing in Alaska, northeastern Montana, northern North Dakota, and northern Minnesota.

Farther south, states like Illinois, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine have a slimmer but still decent chance at spotting glowing lights on the horizon. Predicting the exact reach of these storms is tricky, so it’s worth glancing skyward regardless.

You can see NOAA’s forecast map for the aurora’s reach for Tuesday evening below. A slightly reduced, but still impressive, reach is predicted for Wednesday evening as well.