Northern Lights Possible Over MI On New Year's Eve

MICHIGAN — Some parts of Michigan may be able to see the northern lights on Tuesday night, New Year's Eve, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center.

While the best place to see the aurora borealis is in the Upper Peninsula, the "viewline" extends into the south-central part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the National Weather Service calls for mostly cloud cover on Tuesday, with the metro Detroit area getting rain and snow, meaning it will be difficult to see the dazzling display of lights.

The best place to see the lights are in Michigan’s dark sky parks, which are: Headlands International, in Mackinaw City; Keweenaw in Cooper Harbor and Dr. T.K. Lawless in Jones.

To see the lights in the Detroit area, it's best to find an area away from light pollution.

Camera lenses are more sensitive than the naked eye, and smartphones may help viewers spot fainter displays that are more difficult to see.

The aurora borealis — or in the Southern Hemisphere, the aurora australis, are caused by solar wind, which carries a stream of charged particles, known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, from the sun’s atmosphere, creating a colorful and swirling glow in the sky.