🌌 Northern lights tonight?

It depends on four things at once: how disturbed Earth's magnetic field is (the Kp index), how far north or south you are, whether your sky is dark, and whether it is cloudy. This page checks all four for the place you choose and gives a plain answer.

Roughly: Kp 3–4 for northern Scandinavia, Iceland and Alaska; Kp 5–6 to reach Scotland, southern Norway or the northern United States; Kp 7+ before it is visible from places like England, Germany or the mid-latitude US states.

The hours around local midnight, once the sky is fully dark — astronomical twilight has ended. This page shows tonight's dark-sky window for your location.

Cloud does — the aurora is far above the weather, so an overcast sky hides it completely. Bright moonlight washes out faint displays but strong ones still show clearly.

EarthLive24 carries live aurora cameras in the far north that stream through the polar night, so you can watch a display even when your own sky is cloudy or you live too far south.