Northern Lights May Still Be Visible Along East Coast Sunday

Folks in the East Coast's Hudson Valley areas got a rare light show Saturday --- a glimpse of the Northern Lights, compliments of the giant solar flare that blew across the Earth late last week.

Tonight the lights may still be visible over areas of the mid-Atlantic region, including parts of Maryland, which is usually too far south to view the Northern Lights.

According to a report by Newsday, a map published by AccuWeather showed prime viewing conditions over the weekend in much if not all of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and a portion of New York state that includes Westchester County and areas of Putnam and Rockland counties.

The skies above the Hudson Valley don't typically glow with the green, blue and red sheen of the auroras, but Thursday's flare --- which briefly disrupted radio communications --- was aimed directly toward the planet, reported AccuWeather and other sources tracking the year's largest geomagnetic storm.

The overhead ribbons of color colloquially known as the "Northern lights" are usually confined to areas of sky near the northern and southern poles. To be specific, the lights in the northern area are called aurora borealis and the southern lights are called aurora australis.

Auroras become visible when residual solar wind hits charged protons in the Earth's atmosphere, igniting the multiple-hued celestial displays.

Enthusiasts often trek to virtually uninhabited regions during the dead of winter, when aurora viewing conditions are usually considered ideal.

Nighttime light pollution can interfere with aurora visibility in cities and suburbs, where lighting tends to wash out the night sky.

So, meteorological experts recommend finding an area with an unobstructed view of the northern sky, as far away as humanly possible from the city lights.

Eastern seaboard weather conditions were generally considered favorable to see the lights through the weekend, indicated David Stark, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.