The northern lights were visible Tuesday night across the Chicago area, illuminating the sky with brightly colorful displays due to severe solar storms.

The aurora borealis, commonly known as the northern lights, is a natural light phenomenon visible in the night sky, most often near the polar regions. NASA explains that the display happens when charged solar particles interact with Earth’s atmosphere, producing glowing streaks of green, pink, and purple that ripple and move overhead.

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.

Americans across numerous states stand a chance of witnessing the northern lights on Wednesday night, according to a forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).

Fans who attended or watched Wednesday's MAC showdown between Toledo and Miami (Ohio) got a special treat in the third quarter.

According to the forecast, northern states bordering Canada - including Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and Washington state - have the best chances of catching a glimpse of the northern lights. However, it could be possible to glimpse the aurora from farther away.