If Wisconsin residents keep their eyes on the night skies this week, they could be treated to a show from the northern lights.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects a geomagnetic storm to peak Thursday, with the the northern lights — aka aurora borealis — potentially visible across Wisconsin.

The geomagnetic, or solar, storm will stretch from Wednesday to Friday. Other states with a shot at seeing the spectacle include Minnesota, Michigan, the Dakotas, northern Illinois and northern New York.

Aurora borealis (aka northern lights) are caused by electrons colliding with the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere. There's an energy release in the form of light. In best-case scenarios for onlookers, splashes of pink, green, yellow, blue and violet fill the night sky. (Here's a longer explanation from the NOAA.)

Thursday thunderstorms may be a hurdle for northern lights viewing. In east-central Wisconsin, the National Weather Service calls for a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms during the day and the less-than-ideal conditions could continue after dark.

The best place to go to see the lights, if indeed they show up, is away from cities and other sources of light pollution. So, essentially, the farther you are from civilization, the better your odds at catching a glimpse.

A "surprisingly strong" aurora was visible early Tuesday across portions of the northern U.S. from an earlier geomagnetic storm, according to AccuWeather.

Doyle Rice of USA TODAY contributed to this report.