Northern lights in San Diego | Will it be visible tonight? [Video]

SAN DIEGO — The northern lights were seen in skies across San Diego County on Thursday, caused by a severe geomagnetic storm.

Photos were captured by CBS 8 viewers showing the rare, stunning spectacle in East San Diego County.

While the northern lights weren’t visible in some regions with the naked eye, photographers across California and the United States lit up social media documenting the colorful show in the sky.

What causes northern lights?

The sun sends more than heat and light to Earth — it sends energy and charged particles known as the solar wind. But sometimes that solar wind becomes a storm. The sun’s outer atmosphere occasionally “burps” out huge bursts of energy called coronal mass ejections. They produce solar storms, also known as geomagnetic storms, according to NOAA.

The Earth’s magnetic field shields us …