Missed the Northern Lights last night? Don’t worry.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that those hoping to witness the celestial phenomenon — including those in Colorado — could have another shot tonight, as the geomagnetic storm that caused Tuesday night’s aurora is expected to continue Wednesday night.

“We are expecting the current geomagnetic storm to continue into tonight, before gradually waning,” NOAA Space and Weather Prediction Center spokesperson Mike Bettwy said in an email Wednesday morning.

Tuesday’s night storm spellbound thousands of Coloradans as it filled the northern horizon with shades of pink and green that were, in many places, visible to the naked eye.

Not only could there be another opportunity to view the Northern Lights on Wednesday night — but the show may be even more spectacular.

“It is quite possible the activity tonight will be just as, or even more intense than yesterday’s,” Bettwy said, “but it is difficult to predict with a high degree of precision in advance.”

How to predict aurora activity

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<figcaption>Andrew Maciejewski/Summit Daily News</figcaption>

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The likelihood of aurora sightings is often based on two measurements. The first is KP index, a scale that measures the strength of geomagnetic storms.

The second measurement is “Bz”. This refers to the north-south orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field. When it’s negative, or southward-pointing, the solar winds can more easily connect with Earth’s magnetic field. This causes particles to collide with the atmosphere, resulting in the visible light of the aurora.

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Typically, a KP greater than 5 and a Bz below -8 is the right combination for viewers to begin seeing the auroras at Colorado’s latitude. 

According to My Aurora Forecast app, the KP index on Nov. 11 began to rise from 2.7 to 8.6 at around 6 p.m. At the same, Bz was at -55 creating perfect conditions for viewing. 

KP predictions for tonight are hovering just above 6 with cloud coverage tonight expected to be around 60%.