The Northern Lights could be visible in parts of the Midwest this week, weather officials say, but most likely not in the Chicago area.
A G2 geomagnetic storm watch has been issued and could allow the aurora to be visible late Tuesday morning and into Wednesday in parts of Michigan and Wisconsin, the National Weather Service said.
The northern lights, which are happening nearly constantly at both polar regions of the planet, are caused when coronal mass ejections of solar material from the sun reach Earth’s magnetic field, causing a geomagnetic storm. The neon lights are produced by collisions between the solar material and atoms and molecules of Earth’s upper atmosphere.
The northern lights were not expected to appear in the Chicago area. Typically, a G3 or greater geomagnetic storm is required to allow visibility in the area, weather officials said.
In April and May, Chicago and surrounding areas got a rare taste of the North Pole as a solar storm brought dazzling displays of the aurora borealis.