Watch: Timelapse video shows rare northern lights across the US

US climate agency issues a severe geomagnetic storm watch that made the northern lights visible in the midwest and could also make them visible even further south.

While these storms can cause disruptions to communication infrastructure, they could also make the aurora visible as far south as Alabama and in Northern California, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

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.