SKY WATCHING — If the city lights and cloudy skies have prevented you from enjoying the recent solor storms generating great shows of Northern Lights, relax, sit back and enjoy this Washington Post story and a gallery of northern lights images by a Montana native who lives in Homer, Alaska.

Dennis Anderson is one of a handful of photographers who make a living by catching the aurora borealis on film.

SKY WATCHING — The Northern lights put on a great show over Washington's Methow Valley last night, and the nordic ski trail operators where on the job to see the spectacle.

“Our groomer Ed got this incredible shot last night,” says the Methow Valley Sport Trails Association Facebook page.

“Last night was pretty epic,” the groomer operator said. “I didn't drive off the trail looking at the sky, but it would have been a fair excuse. Photo was taken on View Ridge Trail about 12:30 a.m. Unfortunately I didn't have my tripod so this is hand held… braced against a shut off Pisten Bully! It is a 1.6 second shot.”

Read more about the unusual solar storm bombarding the night sky today and continuing tonight.

SKY WATCHING — A big solar flare — perhaps the biggest in five years — combined with a chance for clear skies over much of the region, could offer up a rare chance to see the northern lights in the few hours before dawn on Thursday and maybe Thursday night.

Also, there' a chance your GPS unit may not perform accurately tomorrow, scientists say.

See the New York Post story.

Here is a forecasting tool that updates every 2 minutes!

SKYWATCHING — Tonight might be prime time, if you can swing it, to go high away from city lights and above the clouds to watch the expected light show in the northern sky.

A massive explosion on the sun's surface has triggered the largest solar radiation storm since 2005, unleashing a torrent of charged plasma particles toward Earth.

The bad news:  Could cause trouble with satellites and GPS navigation, power grids and other high-tech hardware.

The good news:  Likely will trigger displays of aurora borealis, a.k.a the northern lights.

Predicting shows of northern lights is much the same for scientists as predicting the weather, since the aurora is a result of space weather.

While this week is special, scientists expect higher than normal solar activity to persist through the year. Scientists say there's been a minimum rate of solar and aurora activity since 2007.

Northern lights info and forecasts

Find a wealth of info, links, photos and forecasts at this website maintained by the Geophysical Institute at the Unviversity of Alaska Fairbanks.

SKYWATCHING — Let's say this photo illustrates a highlight of my recent visit to the C.M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge north of my hometown — Lewistown, Mont:  

After hunting and wildlife viewing, I sat in the grass until after midnight one night last week snapping photos of the Northern Lights over one of the largest intact grassland prairies on earth.

Do you see the Big Dipper?