Northern lights tonight in Helsinki? Aurora forecast
Will the northern lights show in Helsinki, Finland, tonight? Kp forecast for its dark hours, the Kp it needs, and cloud cover.
Tonight in Helsinki: Unlikely. The aurora needs about Kp 4 here; NOAA forecasts up to Kp 2.3 during the dark hours, with 26% cloud cover.
- Kp needed
- 4
- Kp then
- 2.3
- Clouds
- 26%
When the forecast for a night in Helsinki turns "possible" or better, you get one notification up to 8 hours before dark. Only the place you picked is stored, not your location.
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.
Low in the northern sky, about 1° to 12° above the horizon. Mostly green. By eye a faint gray-white glow, like a thin cloud; a camera shows it green.
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.