Want to see the Northern Lights? There's a chance you'll see them tonight over NH

The Aurora Borealis, also known as the northern lights, is predicted to put on a spectacular show tonight that much of the country, including New Hampshire, might be able to see.

From Friday night to early Saturday morning, the Aurora Borealis will potentially be visible over the northern United States, possibly reaching as far as Virginia, Missouri, Colorado.

But seeing the lights is not a sure thing for Seacoast and southern Maine residents.

Because of cloud cover in the region, AccuWeather is saying the viewing may be poor across much of New England.

Though a rare occurrence overall, this is the second year in a row that the northern lights have come south. An April 2023, they were visible all the way to Arizona. So what do we have to thank for this celestial light show?

What is the Aurora Borealis?

The phenomenon of the northern lights is caused by massive clouds of charged particles released by the sun toward the Earth, events known as coronal mass ejections. Upon impact with the Earth's magnetic field, these particles interact with molecules of atmospheric gases to ignite the aurora borealis over the Northern Hemisphere, usually over Canada.

Situations such as this one result from larger coronal mass ejections, which can mean the lights will spark over larger portions of the Northern Hemisphere.

The frequency of the shows has increased in recent years as we've hit "solar maximum," which is expected to peak this year.

"There have been an increase in aurora seen in general on Earth," Shannon Schmoll, the director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University told USA TODAY last year. "The sun has been more active, resulting in more solar storms that cause solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME).

A fickle forecast

The aurora can be fickle to forecast, so some caution is warranted before adjusting your weekend plans. Unlike terrestrial weather, scientists who forecast space weather – which includes the aurora – must rely on observations of the 93-million-miles-away sun to make their predictions.

"There are so many uncertainties, it makes it difficult to predict," Bill Murtagh, the program coordinator at the Space Weather Prediction Center, told USA TODAY last year. And as hard as it is to forecast weather here on Earth, "we are decades behind the forecast capabilities of our colleagues in meteorology," he admitted, referring to space weather.

Tips for seeing the Northern Lights 2024

Barring cloud cover, which could be an issue for viewers in the Northeast, for best results it's recommended to travel somewhere with as little light pollution as possible and look to the northern horizon.

The best aurora is usually within an hour or two of midnight (between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. local time). These hours expand towards evening and morning as the level of geomagnetic activity increases.

Even if you don't get the best view on Friday, if the coronal mass ejections continue at their present level, the northern lights could still be visible here on Saturday night as well.

If you're hoping to capture the moment on film for posterity - or Instagram - a smart phone is unlikely to give you the desired results and it's best to bring a proper camera. Be sure it's on the proper settings beforehand.

USA Today contributed to this report.