Here Come the Northern Lights

Think of it as a little payback from Mother Nature for this week's misery: She might put on a show in the form of the northern lights, or aurora borealis, over the next few nights. Thanks to a solar flare from the sun on Tuesday, the shimmering green (and sometimes red) lights might show up low on the horizon tonight. The Detroit Free Press, for instance, is advising locals to take a look after midnight. The AP says the best viewing for most of the "northern fringes" of the US will be tomorrow evening, and it notes that the lights might show up as far south as Colorado. USA Today, which has a detailed explanation of the phenomenon, says the lights could extend into Friday morning. You can suss out your own viewing probabilities via this NOAA page. (More northern lights stories.)