It may not be too late for some Americans to be dazzled by the northern lights from an unusually strong solar storm.
The U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center said Sunday that the rare, extremely powerful ongoing storm was expected to become even more intense later in the day, reaching levels from "severe" to "extreme."
Several coronal mass ejections — bubbles of gas and magnetic fields expelled from the sun's atmosphere — were expected to reach Earth's outer atmosphere, the center said.
A color-coded map of Sunday night's forecast for the northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, showed a strong likelihood the heavenly phenomenon will be visible over Canada and Alaska, with a lesser chance above the northernmost states in the continental U.S.
But the celestial show can be seen from up to 600 miles away, which means people in dark areas away from big cities may be able to get a peek.
On Friday, the strongest geomagnetic storm in 20 years reached Earth, triggering colorful lights in night skies around the world, Germany's public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported.
In the U.S., purple, pink, green and yellow hues could be seen as far south as San Diego.
In late October 2003, a record solar storm affected more than half of all spacecraft orbiting the Earth, disrupting satellite TV and radio services, as well as flights between North America and Asia over the North Pole.
Astronauts on the International Space Station also had to take cover from the high radiation levels for only the third time in the mission's history.
