Due to a severe solar storm, the northern lights were visible across several regions in the United States May 10 — and the rare phenomenon could continue throughout the weekend. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a severe geomagnetic storm warning for the first time since 2005. The Space Weather Prediction Center shared on X that a coronal mass ejection was “anticipated to merge and arrive at Earth by late on May 10 or early on May 11.
According to a forecast shared by the Space Weather Prediction Center on X, there is a high probability of seeing the northern lights in the northern region of the United States. This includes parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, according to the agency's aurora forecast map.