Multiple states across the Northern U.S. could see the Northern Lights late Thursday and into Friday thanks to an upgraded geomagnetic storm prediction, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center said.
According to NOAA, the predictions were upgraded due to multiple CMEs — coronal mass ejections — hurling toward Earth.
According to the agency, a CME is a "large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona," which can result in the "sudden release of electromagnetic energy in the form of a solar flare."
As part of the upgraded predictions, multiple states have a shot at seeing the Aurora borealis.
Nearly all of the Canada and the Northern United States is included in NOAA's most recent "Aurora Viewline," with the highest chances of viewing in the northern parts of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Although Illinois doesn't quite appear in the agency's Aurora viewline map, it's possible that some in the northern part of the state could see the spectacle.
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"Aurora can often be observed somewhere on Earth from just after sunset or just before sunrise," NOAA said, adding that it is not visible during daylight hours. " The aurora does not need to be directly overhead but can be observed from as much as a 1000 km away when the aurora is bright and if conditions are right."
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Earlier this month, some parts of DeKalb County caught a glimpse of the Northern Lights.
