A forecast map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that at least 21 states could potentially see the aurora, and that the view could last into early Wednesday, Nov. 12. According to NOAA, the northern lights are usually best viewed an hour or two before midnight.

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.

On Tuesday, NOAA issued a G4, or severe, geomagnetic storm watch in response to recent coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, from the sun. CMEs are huge bubbles of coronal plasma that the sun occasionally ejects, NASA says. The highest geomagnetic storm level is G5, which is considered extreme.

Nature offers many dazzling displays, from jagged flashes of lightning to radiant sunsets. But perhaps one of the most elusive natural phenomena is the shimmering waves of green, pink, and red dancing across the night sky,

Increased solar activity causes auroras that dance around Earth’s poles, known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis, and southern lights, or aurora australis. When the energized particles from coronal mass ejections reach Earth’s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere to create different colored lights in the sky.

Northern Lights may dazzle again tonight as a severe geomagnetic storm reaches peak intensity across regions. Follow live.

Auroras may be visible from Alaska to Illinois as an incoming coronal mass ejection could spark severe geomagnetic storm conditions overnight.

Bands of green and red first pierced through the hazy night sky around 9:30 p.m. above the pier at Grand Haven State Park.