Northern lights forecast
for Oulu
Oulu, Finland — about 61° geomagnetic latitude. Southern edge of Lapland.
Northern lights in Oulu tonight · live
Reading the field under the auroral oval…
How it works
A magnetometer measures the Earth’s magnetic field. When a substorm surges the electric current that runs about 100 km up along the auroral oval, the field on the ground beneath it drops by hundreds of nanotesla (nT) within minutes — the sharp dip a magnetogram shows.
This reads the nearest of the Finnish Meteorological Institute’s eight magnetometers, Oulujärvi, against its own last 24 hours: 150 nT either way is active, a 300 nT drop a substorm, 600 a strong one. It measures the sky over the station — up to about 300 km away it still speaks for yours — and says nothing about cloud. Kp and Hp30 are planetary; this is local, and minutes old.
Can you see the aurora in Oulu?
Yes. From a dark site you need about Kp 3 for a faint glow low on the northern horizon, and roughly Kp 5 for bright aurora directly overhead. At 61° geomagnetic latitude this spot sits on the edge of the oval — you want an active night.
Over the last 12 months the planetary Kp peaked at the levels Oulu needs on the days shown — out of 365. Kp is a global index, so these are the odds the sky was active enough; you still need clear, dark skies here. In 94 years on record the strongest day hit Kp 9.
The greatest storms on record: The Halloween storms (Oct 2003) · The Gannon storm (May 2024) · 13 Nov 1960
The full Kp archive, 1932 → today →When to go
The season runs mid August to late April, when the nights are long and dark. You also need clear skies and a low moon — even a strong Kp is useless under cloud. Check tonight's live call above, then plan a night around the dark window, cloud and moon.
Clearest dark months here (outlined): Mar, Sep, Oct. Faint: no night with an hour of astronomical darkness — white nights, twilight only (May, Jun, Jul, Aug). Part-faint months are dark on some nights only: dark until 5 Apr; dark from 5 Sep. ERA5 reanalysis, 2015–2024 monthly mean. Climatology, not a forecast — a regional ~25 km grid; local microclimates are not captured. Darkness & moon calendar → Best month, all spots →
Nearby in Northern Europe
Thresholds are averages from a dark site. Real visibility also needs clear skies, darkness and a cooperative moon — read every number as a chance, not a guarantee. The map is schematic: the oval is drawn around the geomagnetic pole and tuned to this place, so its edge reaches the marker at the Kp this page gives; the marker is approximate.