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🌠 Geminids peak (~150 meteors/h) — in 58 days

Northern lights forecast — Oct 16

Live NOAA Kp index and tonight's aurora odds for your latitude, refreshed every 30 minutes.

Tonight's verdict · Forecast for tonight — Friday, October 16, 2026

Kp 3 tonight, geomagnetically quiet — the aurora stays near 59° geomagnetic latitude, so only high-latitude regions are likely to see it.

Kp now

3.33

Tonight's max

2.67

Storm level

—

Visible above

~59° geomag.

Next 3 nights

  • Friday: up to Kp 2.7
  • Saturday: up to Kp 1.7
  • Sunday: up to Kp 1.7

Looking further out, NOAA's 27-day outlook flags around October 31 as the next active window — up to Kp 5 (G1).

Live data: NOAA SWPC planetary K-index · updated Oct 16, 12:00 AM UTC · refreshes every 30 min.Get a free aurora alert →See live solar activityWhat is the Kp index?

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Where can you see the northern lights tonight?

Tonight's activity keeps the aurora near 59° geomagnetic latitude — mostly high-latitude regions. Here's tonight's reach:

US states tonight

PlaceNeedsTonight
AlaskaKp 0.5🟢 Visible
North DakotaKp 4.8⚪ Not tonight
MaineKp 5.1⚪ Not tonight
MinnesotaKp 5.3⚪ Not tonight
VermontKp 5.4⚪ Not tonight
New HampshireKp 5.5⚪ Not tonight
MontanaKp 5.6⚪ Not tonight
South DakotaKp 5.8⚪ Not tonight
WashingtonKp 5.8⚪ Not tonight
WisconsinKp 5.9⚪ Not tonight
MichiganKp 6.2⚪ Not tonight
IdahoKp 6.3⚪ Not tonight
IllinoisKp 6.3⚪ Not tonight
IowaKp 6.4⚪ Not tonight
OregonKp 6.4⚪ Not tonight
PennsylvaniaKp 6.4⚪ Not tonight
WyomingKp 6.5⚪ Not tonight
MassachusettsKp 6.7⚪ Not tonight
IndianaKp 6.9⚪ Not tonight
OhioKp 6.9⚪ Not tonight
New YorkKp 7⚪ Not tonight
ColoradoKp 7.3⚪ Not tonight
UtahKp 7.3⚪ Not tonight
California>9⚪ Not tonight
Texas>9⚪ Not tonight
Aurora forecast for every US state

Aurora forecast by nation and province: UK · Scotland Kp 5.7 · England Kp 7 · Wales Kp 7.4 · Northern Ireland Kp 6.2 — Canada · British Columbia Kp 5.3 · Alberta Kp 3.7 · Saskatchewan Kp 3.6 · Manitoba Kp 3.8 · Ontario Kp 5.8 · Quebec Kp 5.5 · New Brunswick Kp 5.9 · Nova Scotia Kp 6.5 · Prince Edward Island Kp 6 · Newfoundland and Labrador Kp 6.4 · Yukon Kp 1.5 · Northwest Territories Kp 0 · Nunavut Kp 0

Around the world tonight

PlaceNeedsTonight
CanadaKp 0🟢 Visible
NorwayKp 0🟢 Visible
IcelandKp 1.1🟢 Visible
FinlandKp 4.3🟡 On the horizon
IrelandKp 4.5⚪ Not tonight
SwedenKp 4.6⚪ Not tonight
ScotlandKp 5.3⚪ Not tonight
New Zealand (South)Kp 6.7⚪ Not tonight
TasmaniaKp 6.7⚪ Not tonight
GermanyKp 7.1⚪ Not tonight

Live city forecasts: Fairbanks · Anchorage · Reykjavík · Tromsø · Seattle · Sioux Falls · Chicago · Boston · Washington, D.C. · San Diego

Get YOUR location's aurora forecast:Get a free aurora alert →Find my location →

Your city's odds

Aurora visibility depends on geomagnetic latitude, not just how far north you live. Each city page shows the Kp it needs, tonight's live odds, and exactly how to look.

🟢 In the auroral zone — visible on many active nights (45 cities)

🟡 Visible during moderate-to-strong storms (Kp 4–6) (79 cities)

🟠 Severe storms only (Kp 7–9) (195 cities)

🔵 Effectively outside aurora range (372 cities)

Your city isn't listed? The in-app sky view shows live conditions for any location on Earth. Open the sky view →

Northern lights questions, answered

Can I see the northern lights tonight?

Only from high latitudes tonight — the forecast peaks at Kp 3, so the aurora stays near 59° geomagnetic latitude. Set a free alert and we'll tell you the moment a storm changes that.

What time can I see the northern lights tonight?

Aim for the dark hours around local midnight — roughly 22:00 to 02:00 — when the sky is darkest and geomagnetic activity tends to peak. Tonight's best odds are above ~59° geomagnetic latitude.

When is the best time to see the northern lights?

Between about 22:00 and 02:00 local time, on a dark clear night away from city lights. Activity often peaks near magnetic midnight, and the weeks around the March and September equinoxes are statistically the most active.

How do you see the northern lights?

Get away from city lights with a clear view toward the north (south in the southern hemisphere), let your eyes adapt for 15–20 minutes, and look low on the horizon. A phone on night mode with a 5–10 second exposure reveals green and red glow your eyes can't see.

What is the NOAA aurora forecast?

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center publishes the planetary Kp index and a 3-day geomagnetic forecast from live solar-wind data. This page reads that feed and translates it into a visibility verdict for each latitude — that's the number in the table above.

What is the Kp index?

The Kp index rates global geomagnetic disturbance from 0 (quiet) to 9 (extreme storm). Each step pushes the auroral oval about 2° of latitude toward the equator, so a higher Kp means the northern lights are visible farther south.

Is there a northern lights forecast for my zip code?

Yes — pick your city from the list on this page, or set a free alert and we'll email you the moment a storm brings the aurora within reach of your exact location.

Get a free aurora alert →

How long do the northern lights last?

A geomagnetic storm can last anywhere from an hour to a few nights. Within a night the aurora arrives in waves — substorms that brighten for 10–30 minutes, fade, and return — so if the sky goes quiet it's usually worth waiting.

Can you see the northern lights when it's cloudy?

No — the aurora forms about 100 km up, well above the clouds, so an overcast sky blocks it completely. You need both a clear sky and a high enough Kp, so check a cloud forecast alongside the numbers on this page.

What about the aurora australis (southern lights)?

The same storms light up the southern sky. From southern Chile and Argentina, New Zealand's South Island, Tasmania and Antarctica, look toward the south — and the southern-hemisphere winter (May–August) brings the darkest, longest nights for it.

How this forecast works

The Kp index measures global geomagnetic disturbance on a 0–9 scale, published by NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. The auroral oval sits near 66° geomagnetic latitude when quiet and pushes ~2° toward the equator per Kp step — which is how a Kp 8 superstorm (like May 2024) puts the northern lights over Spain and Texas. Cosmik combines the live index, the 24h forecast and each city's geomagnetic latitude into the odds you see on every page. We're at solar maximum right now — the storm-richest years of the 11-year cycle.

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