- - Northern lights may be visible in several states tonight. See forecast

Melina Khan, USA TODAYJanuary 20, 2026 at 7:02 PM

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Northern lights may be visible in several states tonight. See forecast

Strong solar activity could make the northern lights visible in roughly two dozen states on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

According to an alert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), a severe geomagnetic storm — a major disturbance of the region in space surrounding Earth — is expected to make for a stronger aurora than usual.

The cause of the increased geomagnetic activity, a coronal mass ejection — large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the sun — reached Earth around 2 p.m. EST on Jan. 19, Shawn Dahl, SWPC's service coordinator, said in a post on X.

The event is measuring as severe on two of NOAA's geomagnetic storm scales. On the K-index scale — which indicates how far away from the poles the northern lights could be visible — NOAA is predicting an 8 out of 9. On another, the agency ranks the event a G4.

It comes after several states in the southern U.S., including Alabama and New Mexico, caught a glimpse of the aurora borealis on Monday, Jan. 19.

The northern lights, which is officially known as the aurora borealis, is a natural phenomenon that projects colorful lights in the night sky as a result of an interaction between the sun's plasma and Earth's magnetic field, according to the National Weather Service.

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When can you see the northern lights?

The northern lights are not visible during daylight hours.

The best time to see the aurora is usually within an hour or two of midnight, but it can be seen anytime in the darkness, according to NOAA.

Which states will see the northern lights tonight?

Parts of about 27 states are partially or fully within NOAA's forecasted "view line" for the northern lights on Jan. 20. The view line indicates the southernmost point where the aurora could be seen on the northern horizon.

However, the forecast is only a prediction; the aurora can be seen further if conditions are right, according to NOAA.

The following states could catch a glimpse of the aurora, according to NOAA's forecasted view line:

Alaska

Colorado

Connecticut

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Maine

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Dakota

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Dakota

Vermont

Wyoming

Washington

Wisconsin

Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Northern lights tonight? See forecast for two dozen states.

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