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Vibrant red and green aurora borealis above the birch tree forest in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Northern Lights Over Chena Lake, just outside Fairbanks, Alaska

Seeing the Northern Lights is an event that often gets a spot on many bucket lists, but traveling north toward Alaska, Canada and the North Pole might not be necessary to accomplish it. That’s because the naturally-occurring light show might be visible in Connecticut and throughout New England this week.

Here’s where, when and how Nutmeggers might be able to catch a glimpse of the aurora borealis, or the Northern Lights, this week.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Prediction Center issued a geomagnetic storm watch from Wednesday through Friday. Geomagnetic storms, according to NPR, are when a coronal hole — which are the spots that look black on the Sun — elicits high winds. This spurs “coronal mass ejections,” which project “plasma and pieces of the Sun's magnetic field into the atmosphere.” 

These storms are graded based on strength, and on Thursday night, the storm is rated as a strong G3. Bill Murtagh, the program coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, told the Washington Post that the G3-level storm “does bring the northern lights down into the United States.” 

On Friday night, the storm level is G2, according to NOAA, which poses a moderate storm level.    Space weather Twitter account Space Weather Watch published a map outlining the locations the Northern Lights could be seen from. The map shows the southern extend of the aurora borealis starts in the Seattle area and traces through the Midwest, over Chicago and up over New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

AURORA FORECAST: Tonight's aurora forecast for the potentially impending moderate/strong geomagnetic storm shows generally cloudy conditions over the Northeast and better than average conditions for parts of Michigan, the Rocky Mountain West, the Pacific Northwest. Details below: pic.twitter.com/OebQXDr1oU

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Prediction Center issued the geomagnetic storm watch from Wednesday through Friday, with the strongest storm watch issued for Thursday.

According to NBC Boston, seeing the Northern Lights in New England depends on the “degree of disturbance of the earth's magnetic field” at the time of the geomagnetic activity. This disturbance level is measured by a Kp index, NBC Boston reports, which ranges from zero to nine and grades the amount of geomagnetic activity in a three-hour period. A Kp of five or higher — along with a location closer to the poles — poses a greater chance of seeing the Northern Lights, NBC Boston notes.

On Thursday, the Kp index may reach as high as seven between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m., NBC Boston reports, which offers a greater chance of seeing the spectacle. To further increase the chances of seeing the Northern Lights, NPR notes that viewers should go to a higher elevation if possible and find a spot that has little light pollution. On Friday, the Kp index stays between two and three, posing a less likely chance to see the lights in action. 

Clouds would block any potential sight of the aurora, and the National Weather Service reports that skies in the Hartford area will be partly to mostly cloudy this evening. The National Weather Services shows a similar cloudy forecast for the Fairfield County area and the New Haven area. In the New London area, skies start mostly clear and transition to cloudy, while in central Connecticut and the southern Litchfield area, there's a partly to mostly cloudy forecast for Friday evening.