Geomagnetic storms brought the northern lights to much of the U.S. on Tuesday night, painting the sky in vibrant hues of green and pink.

The Aurora Borealis was spotted in a large swath of states, including Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Washington state. Northern lights were visible as far south as parts of Florida and Alabama, a relatively rare occurrence that highlights the severity of this week’s storms.

“Well, we had activity tonight — a lot of geomagnetic storm activity,” Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center, said in a video on X.

The aurora borealis glows above rural Monroe County, Wis., as a strong geomagnetic storm from recent solar activity pushes the northern lights unusually far south on Wednesday.

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A geomagnetic storm happens when charged particles from the sun’s atmosphere interact with the Earth’s magnetic field. In addition to creating dazzling displays of color, such storms can disrupt technology on Earth, from satellites and GPS to radio communications and the power grid.

Tuesday’s activity was the result of a phenomenon called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), massive blasts of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere that grow in size as they hurtle towards Earth.

Two CMEs arrived on Earth on Tuesday, Dahl said.

The aurora borealis lights up the night sky east of Denver on Tuesday.

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The resulting storm reached G4 levels, the second-highest on NOAA’s five-step scale, and created a magnetic field that was “not only eight times stronger than what’s normal but … also favorable for continued activity,” Dahl said in a later update.

Forecasters are awaiting a third and final CME, which they expect will arrive on Earth at midday Wednesday and be even stronger than the previous two.

“That was the most energetic and strongest of this activity out there in space,” Dahl said. “It was traveling significantly faster than these other two, and we think that’s going to pack even a stronger punch than what we’ve already experienced.”

The Space Weather Prediction Center says the aurora may become visible “over much of the northern half of the country, and maybe as far south as Alabama to northern California.”

The Met Office, the U.K.’s national weather service, says the aurora may also be visible over parts of Britain on Wednesday night, though it is likely to be obscured by cloud cover — as was the case in Michigan on Tuesday.

Luckily, Americans in northern states won’t have to wait long for another chance to get a glimpse.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center “aurora viewline forecast” shows the swath of the northern U.S. in which the northern lights might be visible on Wednesday.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center

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NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center

How to see (and photograph!) the northern lights 

A dark setting is essential to see the aurora, so it’s important to get away from light pollution if you want a good glimpse of the northern lights. It’ll be easiest to see between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time, according to NOAA.

A person watches the northern lights over Hulah Lake in northern Oklahoma on Tuesday.

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It is difficult to predict the exact timing and location of the northern lights, but you can sign up for different services that alert you when an aurora may be visible in your area. For example, a citizen science platform called Aurorasaurus allows users to report when and where they see an aurora, and gives estimates on how visible an aurora is in a given area.

Another option is an app called My Aurora Forecast & Alerts, available for download on both iOS and Android devices. This is a location-based app that gives viewing probability and forecasts.

Smartphone cameras are better at capturing the full array of an aurora than our naked eye, so be sure to go out with your phone to view a fuller spectrum of colors. If your phone camera has a night mode option, it’s best to switch it on when photographing the northern lights. You can also switch your phone camera to manual mode and adjust the exposure settings to get the perfect picture.

The aurora brightens the sky over Putnam Lake in Patterson, N.Y., on Tuesday.

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Why we are seeing more northern lights 

Auroras have been happening more frequently in the United States for a while, and will continue to do so for several months. This influx of shimmering colors comes because the sun is reaching the peak of its 11-year cycle and, therefore, its solar maximum. The solar maximum causes solar eruptions, and this increase of activity brings ions, or electrically charged particles, closer to Earth. This stream of particles is known as the solar wind.

As solar winds get closer to Earth, the charged particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. When they collide, light is emitted. The light emits at various wavelengths, creating a colorful display throughout the night sky.

When the sun is at its solar maximum, the number of solar eruptions increases, which is why there are more auroras in the sky. Usually, this activity only takes place near the Arctic Circle, but since solar activity is strong right now, viewing areas have expanded to other regions, like the Midwest.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was the most prominent American official to attend the COP30 global climate conference in Belém, Brazil, this week — using the platform to criticize the absent Trump administration.

The White House mocked the trip, noting California’s continued rank among the highest in U.S. energy costs.

Newsom’s office put out a summary of his visit to the conference, saying it shows California is “leading by example” and proving that “climate action and economic growth go hand in hand.”

“As Donald Trump abandons American climate leadership, California continues and accelerates its climate action, urging global investors to embrace the technologies and infrastructure driving the clean energy future,” his office said in the release.

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On Tuesday, Newsom was scheduled to deliver remarks in his role as co-chair of America Is All In, which describes itself as a broad coalition of non-federal actors in the U.S. committed to ambitious climate action. Later, he was scheduled to attend a state-governor’s coalition called U.S. Climate Alliance, and then travel into the Amazon rainforest to meet with “community stewards.”

“While Donald Trump is handing the future to China, California is proving that climate action, business growth, supporting workers, and good-paying jobs go hand in hand,” Newsom said.

“We’re not turning backwards to the failed policies of the past — California is fighting for a clean-energy future, even as President Trump bends the knee to his Gulf-State patrons and takes a nap as the world burns.”

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Newsom made the case during remarks at the coinciding Milken Institute Global Investors Symposium in Sao Paulo that California has proved it can balance climate and environmental stewardship with economic growth.

“We’re running the fourth-largest economy in the world [on] 67%; two-thirds clean energy,” he said.

Newsom claimed that nine out of 10 days this year, California operated on 100% non-fossil-fuel energy for at least part of the day:

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“I don’t know if there’s another jurisdiction in the world that can lay claim to that.”

“We are proving the paradigm: The genius of ‘and,’ not the tyranny of ‘or’,” he said in remarks to Milken CEO Rich Ditizio.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers cited California’s consumer energy costs, and claimed that Newsom would not be attending such a summit if he was sincere about the issue as thousands of acres reportedly had to be cleared for a “special purpose highway” into the rainforest.

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Belem officials denied the highway, Avenida Liberdade, was built expressly for the summit, according to reports.

“Governor Newscum (sic) flew all the way to Brazil to tout the Green New Scam, while the people of California are paying some of the highest energy prices in the country: Embarrassing,” Rogers said.

“It’s time for Newscum and other countries to drop the climate façade. President Trump will not allow the best interest of the American people to be jeopardized by the Green Energy Scam. These Green Dreams are killing other countries, but will not kill ours thanks to President Trump’s commonsense energy agenda,” she added.

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At the conference, former Washington Gov. Jay Inslee claimed to the COP30 conference that the U.S. has not pulled out of the Paris climate accords.

“One part of the United States has, and that’s the federal government,” he told Germany’s Deutsche Welle.

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At a business conference in Greece this week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright commented on the Trump administration’s absence, calling the confab “essentially a hoax.”

“It’s not an honest organization looking to better human lives,” Wright said, adding that he may drop in on the 2026 conference to deliver some “common sense.”

The Senate on Monday passed a bill to end the longest government shutdown in history after more than a month of stalemate. Seven Democrats and Senator Angus King, a Maine independent, joined almost every Republican in voting “yes.”

In voting for the bill, the Democrats broke with the rest of their party’s members, who have been insisting that any spending measure include the extension of expiring health insurance subsidies. The bill does not include any health care provisions, but Democrats did obtain some concessions, including the restoration of the jobs of federal workers who were laid off during the shutdown and guaranteed backpay for those who were furloughed.

The bill still needs to pass the House. Representatives are beginning to return to Washington after an extended recess, and a vote is not expected until Wednesday at the earliest.

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