Northern lights tonight in Vancouver? Aurora forecast
Will the northern lights show in Vancouver, Canada, tonight? Kp forecast for its dark hours, the Kp it needs, and cloud cover.
Tonight in Vancouver: Unlikely. The aurora needs about Kp 5 here; NOAA forecasts up to Kp 2.3 during the dark hours, with 99% cloud cover.
- Kp needed
- 5
- Kp then
- 2.3
- Clouds
- 99%
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 0° to 5° above the horizon. Only the red top shows, as a glow near the horizon. Hard to see by eye; a long camera exposure picks up the red.
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.