Tonight's aurora forecast on a live map, and the places that give you the best odds, with how strong a storm each one needs and when to go. The southern lights too.
Kp 1.3 for the 15:00 UTC block, from NOAA. Forecast peak in the next 24 hours: Kp 1.7. That is usually enough in Yellowknife, Churchill, Fairbanks, Kangerlussuaq and 3 more places on our list, with dark, clear skies.
A notification when NOAA forecasts a storm of Kp 5 or more. Two a day at most.
Live data: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, OVATION aurora forecast (30 to 90 minutes ahead) and the planetary K-index, refreshed every 10 minutes. Darkness is worked out for each place. Cloud isn't, so check a local forecast before you head out.
The aurora lives in a ring around each magnetic pole called the auroral oval. Stand under it and a quiet night can still deliver. Stand further south and you need the sun to throw a storm your way. Every place below shows the Kp that usually brings a good show there, from a dark spot looking toward the pole, and a live status from tonight's forecast.
Right under the auroral oval, with dry, clear winter skies. Even a quiet night can put on a show here.
Wilderness starts a short drive out of town, so you can sleep in the city and watch from the dark.
Famous for polar bears in autumn, but on the Hudson Bay coast the oval passes almost overhead. Winter is aurora season.
Clear, cold interior winters and a spot under the oval make it the most reliable aurora town in the US.
Under the oval and a short flight from both sides of the Atlantic. Cloud is the challenge, so give it a few nights.
Inland Greenland is known for long runs of clear, settled winter weather, almost directly under the oval.
The Arctic city with direct flights from across Europe. Polar night runs from late November to mid-January.
Peaks dropping straight into the sea: Europe's most photographed aurora backdrop. Milder, and cloudier, than inland.
The mountains often keep Abisko clear when the coast is clouded over. The Aurora Sky Station sits on the slope above.
Lapland's gateway, on the Arctic Circle with flights all winter. Step out of town for darker skies.
Further north and darker than Rovaniemi, beside Urho Kekkonen National Park. Kakslauttanen's glass igloos started the trend here.
Shetlanders call them the mirrie dancers. An active night can be enough in Shetland; the mainland Highlands usually need a minor storm.
One of the world's largest dark-sky preserves. When the lights reach the Rockies, nothing washes them out.
The nearest proper dark skies to Toronto, including the Torrance Barrens Dark-Sky Preserve. It takes a storm, so watch the Kp.
An International Dark Sky Sanctuary on the Canadian border, and one of the lower 48's best bets when a storm arrives.
Look south from Bruny Island, South Arm or Cockle Creek. The aurora australis sits low, and often looks brighter on camera than to the eye.
Rakiura is often translated as "glowing skies". A Dark Sky Sanctuary at the very bottom of New Zealand.
Inside the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, one of the largest in the world.
The aurora happens all year, but you can only see it in the dark. In the far north that means late August to mid-April; in Tasmania and New Zealand, March to September. Within those windows, the weeks around the equinoxes in March and September tend to bring more geomagnetic activity. Sunspot cycle 25 peaked around late 2024, and big storms keep arriving for a few years after a maximum.
Kp measures how disturbed the Earth's magnetic field is, in three-hour blocks. The higher it goes, the further from the pole the aurora reaches. It is a rough guide, not a promise: a Kp 3 night can dance, and a Kp 6 storm can fizzle by the time it's dark where you are.
Storms come with a G rating from NOAA. G1 is Kp 5, G5 is Kp 9. The big ones are rare but real: in May 2024 a G5 storm made the aurora visible as far south as Florida and Mexico.
Twenty minutes out of town beats the best hotel window in it. Dark-sky preserves exist for a reason.
Cloud is the real enemy, not the sun. More nights means more chances for a clear one.
Activity tends to peak around local midnight, but storms keep their own hours. Set an alarm, or book a hotel with an aurora wake-up call.
A full moon washes out faint displays. Around the new moon, even a modest night looks better.
Night mode on a tripod or a steady surface picks up colour your eyes can't. On a camera, start around 5 seconds, ISO 1600, widest aperture, focus at infinity.
Night vision takes time and one glance at a bright screen resets it. Turn the brightness right down.