The Northern Lights Will Be Visible Over the US Tonight | 22 Words

The Aurora Borealis are typically confined to parts of Alaska, which means for those of us here in the U.S., the opportunity to see them is somewhat rare.

Well, until now, that is.

It has been reported that, in some select areas of the country, the northern lights will be visible. Keep scrolling to find out if your area is one of them...

The northern lights are an otherworldly experience.

The phenomenon, also known as Aurora Borealis, is actually created by bursting sunspots that push solar wind through our solar system.

The charged particles then enter the Earth’s atmosphere....

And the collision creates what looks like a magical display of dancing purple and green lights across the sky.

It’s something most want to see in person at least once in their lives...

via: Shutterstock

 But, for us here in the U.S, the extraordinary event can typically only be seen in certain parts of Alaska, which can be a trek for travelers outside the often inclement region.

However, the northern lights have been known to move down southward...

And they have made some rare appearances in the U.S. and Canada in the past.

What makes a northern light appear in the south?

According to The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), unusual space weather is driving the spectacular light show away from its usual Alaskan venue. And tonight could very well be the night...

The SWPC has issued G1, G2, and G3 geomagnetic storms for tonight, December 10th.

This means that the northern lights can now be spotted here in the U.S!

The diagram shared by SWPC is a measure of the solar activity hitting Earth's atmosphere.

via: Getty Images

 Which results in beautiful auroral displays.

When strong bursts of energy from coronal mass ejection (CME) arrives, it can often cause these unusual sightings where you wouldn't expect...

via: Getty Images

 Like here in the U.S.

Although the sightings are only forecasts and not guarantees.

via: Getty Images

 "While SWPC forecasters are fairly confident in CME arrival at Earth, timing and geomagnetic storm intensity are less certain," the center wrote in its alert.

The SWPC hasn't released a map of the possible areas like it usually does...

Instead, using the September map, providing a little context for how far south you might be able to see the lights.

But where can we see them?!

Well, they have predicted that we might see it as far south as Oregon, Nebraska, northern Missouri, and New Jersey, as well as other places across the country.

The area around the yellow line on the September map indicates where it will be the strongest....

It includes; northern Idaho, a sliver of Illinois and Indiana, northern Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, northern Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, as well as all of Alaska and Canada.

Although Alaska and northern Canada aren't strangers to the beautiful display.

The map also includes parts of Connecticut, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.

Those are all possibilities if we're lucky.

Keep your eyes open tonight! For more, keep scrolling for the ultra-rare white killer whale spotted off the coast of Alaska...