Northern lights predicted in northern U.S. this week, but clouds may obscure in Washington

The aurora borealis, or northern lights, may show up in the sky Tuesday due to increased solar activities, though it may be cloudy around Kitsap when that happens.

A strong solar flare — an eruption of energy from the Sun — on Sunday led to at least four coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, heading toward the Earth with possible arrivals starting Tuesday and into Thursday. Because of that, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center issued geomagnetic storm watches and predicted a G3, as strong, for Tuesday, and a G2, as moderate, for Wednesday and Thursday.

"Should the forecast conditions occur during the late evening hours, the aurora could become visible at times as far south as the northeast U.S. through the upper Midwest, and across the rest of the northern states to include northern Oregon," according to the prediction center.

The best time of day to see the aurora is usually within an hour or two of midnight between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time, according to the center.

The geomagnetic storm is predicted to be weaker than the one on May 10, which made the northern lights visible across the United States — not just the northern states. The May 10 storm was rated a G5 (extreme) , the highest among NOAA's geomagnetic storm scales starting from G1 (minor).

It may be cloudy in Kitsap County Tuesday night though, according to the National Weather Service , so it's hard to say if northern lights are visible for those living in Kitsap. The weather condition is predicted to be clear for Wednesday night and mostly clear for Thursday night.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Northern lights predicted in northern U.S. this week, but clouds may obscure in Washington