After the piercing freeze we’ve endured – we may get a stunning visual reward.

There’s a prediction that mid-northerners may soon be treated to some shimmering northern lights.

U.S. space weather forecaster Joe Kunches says a huge solar flare was released by the Sun late yesterday – and it’s effects should arrive at Earth early Thursday.

It should shake up Earth’s magnetic field and expand the Aurora Borealis in a more southerly direction than usual.

The best viewing would probably be Thursday evening, weather permitting.

The University of Alaska’s Geophysical Institute predicts much of Canada and the northern fringes of the U.S. should see the northern lights.

The solar storm is already diverting airline flights around the Earth’s poles – and may disrupt GPS devices Thursday.