Normally, these natural light shows are only visible at higher, more northern, latitudes. During geomagnetic storms, they can appear farther south, including Illinois. The northern lights can appear as green, pink, purple or blue rays, sometimes with a red border.

Aurora chasers are on high alert for possible geomagnetic storm conditions Oct.3 through Oct. 5 with northern lights possible as far south as Illinois and Oregon.

NOAA issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected earlier this week.

The lights may be visible in several states like Oregon, Washington, New York, Maine, Vermont, Illinois, Michigan and Nebraska.

The wording from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is not as confident on strong northern lights tonight. They do say we will likely have northern lights, but give the various levels of northern lights a lesser chance than last night.

The northern lights returned to Ohio on Thursday, glowing across the state. Will the aurora borealis return tonight? Here's a look at the forecast.

A large chunk of northern U.S. states could get a glimpse at the northern lights on Thursday night, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast, which predicts a strong showing of the natural phenomenon amid a potentially severe geomagnetic storm.

The Northern Lights lit up the skies with spectacular bright pink hues visible on Thursday night. Stunning photos of the dazzling natural phenomenon were captured across the country. The lights, also known as aurora borealis,