Aurora Forecast — Live
The oval below is NOAA's OVATION model: where aurora is most likely in the next 30 minutes, updated continuously. Press play to watch the last 24 hours of the oval breathing with the solar wind.
The Kp index is the trigger: the higher it climbs, the further the oval spills toward the equator. Tonight's odds at your latitude ride on that number.
How Far South Tonight?
| Storm level | Aurora can reach |
|---|---|
| Kp 3–4 | Alaska, northern Canada, Iceland, northern Scandinavia |
| Kp 5 (G1) | US–Canada border states, Scotland, southern Scandinavia |
| Kp 6 (G2) | Northern US tier (WA, MT, ND, MN, WI, MI, ME), northern Germany |
| Kp 7 (G3) | Mid-US (OR, IA, IL, PA, NY), central Europe |
| Kp 8–9 (G4–G5) | Rare historic displays: southern US, Mediterranean latitudes |
Rule-of-thumb latitudes under dark, clear skies — city light and cloud cover shrink every row.
Common Questions
Can I see the aurora tonight?
Check the live oval and Kp value above: at Kp 5 the aurora can reach the northern US and northern Europe; at Kp 7+ it reaches mid-latitudes. You also need darkness, clear skies, and a view toward the poleward horizon.
What time is the aurora most visible?
Statistically strongest within an hour or two of local magnetic midnight (roughly 10pm–2am local time), but during strong storms it can appear any time it is dark.
What causes the aurora?
Charged solar wind particles funneled down Earth’s magnetic field lines collide with the upper atmosphere — oxygen glows green and red, nitrogen blue and purple. The stronger the geomagnetic storm, the further the glow spills toward the equator.
Get Storm & CME Alerts
NOAA and NASA publish the numbers. They don't tell you. The moment a geomagnetic storm, a major flare, or an Earth-directed CME is confirmed, we'll email you — no refreshing this page, no scanning raw feeds.
This is the general grid alert — the same one everyone gets. Reading it against your commissioning schematic is what the Planetary Logic Controller does.
Signing up puts you on our list — that's the deal: we watch the sky, you hear from us by email. Unsubscribe any time, but it turns off everything, alerts included.
Full accounts get the richer channel: push notifications, in-app alerts, and email — all tied to the same PLC dashboard.
Enable Space Weather Alerts in Settings →