A storm night. The auroral oval has bulged south — the lights can reach well below their usual latitudes. Get somewhere dark and look up.
If solar activity is at minimum, the northern lights may not be visible from your latitude. Unless there's a radical change in the speed and amount of the solar wind coming from the Sun, your night may end this way. A tip: if you see a very faint, thin veil-like channel open in the sky, it can be a sign of solar activity, and the lights may sharpen later in the night. With no activity at all, waiting for the northern lights is no different from waiting for a rainbow in sunny weather.
More field questions →NOAA's 3-day forecast expects the index to reach ◌ Kp 5.0 · expected around Sat 00:00 UTC. The live reading right now is ● Kp 1.0 · calm. If the storm arrives, Bz turning south will show it first.
The next 48 hours, three hours at a time ↓Two ways to hear about aurora — the whole planet, or your one spot. Free browser notifications, no email, unsubscribe in a tap.
One push whenever NOAA forecasts a G1+ geomagnetic storm within 48 hours — wherever you are. On a big night the aurora reaches far south of its usual latitudes.
Pick any of the 82 watch points — we’ll watch its own Kp threshold, the dark window and the cloud cover for you.
| Time (UTC) | Kp | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Fri 30 · 06:00 UTC | 2.3 | measured |
| Fri 30 · 09:00 UTC | 0.3 | forecast |
| Fri 30 · 12:00 UTC | 0.3 | forecast |
| Fri 30 · 15:00 UTC | 0.7 | forecast |
| Fri 30 · 18:00 UTC | 1.7 | forecast |
| Fri 30 · 21:00 UTC | 1.7 | forecast |
| Sat 31 · 00:00 UTC | 5.0 | forecast |
| Sat 31 · 03:00 UTC | 4.7 | forecast |
| Sat 31 · 06:00 UTC | 4.3 | forecast |
| Sat 31 · 09:00 UTC | 4.0 | forecast |
| Sat 31 · 12:00 UTC | 3.0 | forecast |
| Sat 31 · 15:00 UTC | 3.0 | forecast |
| Sat 31 · 18:00 UTC | 3.7 | forecast |
| Sat 31 · 21:00 UTC | 4.0 | forecast |
| Sun 1 · 00:00 UTC | 3.7 | forecast |
| Sun 1 · 03:00 UTC | 4.7 | forecast |
The near sky in 3-hour bins — peak ◌ Kp 5.0 · Sat 31 · 00:00–03:00 UTC, and ● live now on the left.
Whether you'll see it depends on geomagnetic latitude, not map latitude — which is why Yellowknife sees the aurora as readily as Tromsø, and Ushuaia needs a major storm. Both hemispheres, live against tonight's Kp.
All-time record: Kp 9.0 — reached on 27 days, most recently 2024-05-11.
Ranked from the data: peak Kp, then intervals spent at 9.0. Nicknames and reach notes only where documented.
Solar Cycle 25 beside the last three maxima →The latest archived week — Kp day by day →The book's frames and that hour's Kp →