The year 2014 has proven to be the year with active sky over the US, filled with super moons, eclipses, and meteor showers. Now, United States could get a rare view of the northern lights, a colorful cosmic display that is normally only visible in far northern latitudes.

The northern lights or Aurora Borealis will be visible after dark on the East Coast from Maine to as far south as Maryland, and across large parts of Michigan and Iowa.

Forecasters revealed that northwestern states, including Idaho and Washington were expected to get the best view of the phenomenon, in which the sky will be illuminated with streaks and swirls of green, red, blue and yellow. The activity could last for several evening and the best time to view the lights are around midnight.

The reason behind the widespread and potentially vivid display of the Northern Lights is the solar flares occurred in rapid succession late this week. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which monitors space weather, has issued a G3 or "strong" geomagnetic storm watch for Friday, due to the combined influence of two coronal mass ejections, or CMEs(which are essentially magnetic clouds ejected at high velocity from the sun) that were associated with the solar flares.

According to the NOAA, the northern lights occur when radiation from the sun reaches Earth and interacts with charged protons in our atmosphere. These interactions hit the magnetosphere around the Earth's north and south poles, releasing colorful streams into the sky.

The NOAA said, "The solar flares that were sent towards Earth this week are very large. When activity picks up, it becomes brighter and the auroral oval expands towards the equator. During very large events, it is possible to see the aurora in the continental US".

The solar flares can have another unusual effect, at times disrupting global positioning, radio, and satellite signals.