Northern lights tonight in Chicago? Aurora forecast
Will the northern lights show in Chicago, Illinois, USA, tonight? Kp forecast for its dark hours, the Kp it needs, and cloud cover.
Tonight in Chicago: Unlikely. The aurora needs about Kp 7 here; NOAA forecasts up to Kp 2.3 during the dark hours, with 0% cloud cover.
- Kp needed
- 7
- Kp then
- 2.3
- Clouds
- 0%
What does each Kp look like?
Drag the bar to change the Kp and see the aurora you could expect from the place you pick.
Not visible from Chicago at this Kp: it takes a stronger storm.
An illustration from a rule of thumb, not a photo: real aurora differs night to night even at the same Kp.
Kp, next 3 days
3-hour steps, UTC. Faded bars are already measured; the rest is NOAA's forecast.
Tips for seeing it
- Look north from somewhere away from city lights, ideally between 10 PM and 2 AM local time.
- Give it time: activity comes in bursts of 10 to 30 minutes.
- A phone camera in night mode often shows colors your eyes see only as gray.
- September to March is the season: the far north has no real night in summer.
Kp: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (public domain).Clouds: based on MET Norway forecasts (CC BY 4.0), taken at each pass time, rounded and labeled by us. About 9 days ahead.