Gina Martinez eyed a trip last year to Alaska in pursuit of an item on her bucket list: the northern lights.

Instead, the sky spectacular visited her. In October, the northern lights were visible in Maryland and Martinez took them in from the middle of a cornfield near her home in Smithsburg.

They could be visible again Sunday night, and she’s hoping to catch another glimpse.

“I have tears in my eyes right now because it made me cry,” Martinez said Sunday, reflecting upon seeing the lights last year.

Formally known as aurora borealis, the majestic, colorful nighttime display caused by solar storms is just what its name describes: lights visible in the northern sky. Typically, they can be seen only from areas closer to the North Pole, including Canada, Iceland and Scandinavia.

But the northern lights just can’t stay away from Maryland. Twice last year, solar activity was so strong that the phenomenon could be viewed from Maryland and, according to some on social media, it was visible again Saturday night.

A powerful geomagnetic storm is expected to bring the northern lights again Sunday night, and there’s a decent chance they will come as far south as Maryland.

Shawn Dahl, who has been tracking solar activity from the federal government’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado, gave it about 50% odds that the lights would be visible in Maryland.

Aurora borealis is caused by massive blasts of plasma and magnetic particles from the sun’s surface. They expand as they get closer to Earth and strike the upper atmosphere, emitting light.

The “aurora’s a funny thing,” Dahl said, and it can be hard to predict if and when it will be visible. He was situated Sunday in a giant room at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center, surveying monitors of information.

“You’d probably be shocked at the number of monitors we have going,” he said.

It takes a particularly strong storm for the lights to reach Maryland. Sunday’s storm is ranked a 4 on a scale of 1 to 5, which is similar to last year. In May 2024, there was a storm that reached the highest level — the most powerful in two decades — and then another one ranked as a 4 in October.

The sun operates in 11-year cycles, and this one has been particularly active, Dahl said. During the “solar maximum,” the northern lights are more likely to be visible; there will be increased odds of aurora borealis until 2026, according to Dahl. Then the chances will decline and the cycle continues.

Skygazers on Sunday night should avoid cities and areas with high light pollution and find more remote areas, the farther north the better. Then it can be a bit of a waiting game.

“Just be patient,” Dahl said.

Good potential spots in Central Maryland include around Prettyboy Reservoir and places to pull off along roads in rural northern parts of Baltimore, Carroll and Harford counties with a good view to the north.

Martinez missed the lights in May 2024 and was so upset she began researching a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska. For over a decade, seeing the aurora borealis had been one of two items on her bucket list, alongside witnessing bioluminescence — the striking emission of light, often off marine organisms.

In two weeks, she’s headed to Orlando, Florida, for an event and plans to drive an hour to the coast to potentially see that natural phenomenon, too.

“I could get both this month, hopefully,” she said.

Martinez has a phone app tracking the likelihood of aurora borealis and, after being alerted of the possibility Saturday, she stayed up all night but never saw them. She was undeterred Sunday.

“I’m tired, but I’m so excited,” she said. “I’ll probably just crash after I see them tonight.”