Northern lights a ‘big miss,’ US space forecaster says

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An initially promising U.S. forecast for the northern lights has gone bust.

The head of operations at the U.S. government’s space weather prediction center says stargazers in the continental 48 states have essentially zero chance of seeing the northern lights this week.

That's despite an initially promising forecast.

Forecasters had thought they would be viewable as far south as Illinois this week.

The northern lights are also known as aurora borealis.

They are an astronomical phenomenon in which curtains of color are visible against the night sky.