Northern lights in Prince George tonight
Whether the aurora is likely to show tonight, worked out from NOAA’s space weather forecast, the cloud forecast, darkness and the moon, with dark places to watch from near Prince George.
Tonight in Prince George
Possible, low in the northern sky
Kp 3 to 4 can show a faint glow low on the northern horizon from a dark spot; a phone camera often sees more than your eyes. Skies are forecast to be mostly clear.
A bright moon is up for most of the night, which washes out fainter displays.
Highest forecast activity: Kp 3.7 from 7:55 p.m. to 8:00 p.m..
- Forecast Kp tonight
- 3.7
- faint, low in the north
- Cloud cover tonight
- 3%
- Average; clearest around 8 p.m. (0%)
- Dark sky
- 7:55 p.m.
- until 5:55 a.m. (astronomical twilight)
- Moon
- 90%
- Waxing gibbous, 90% lit, up until 4:45 a.m.
Environment Canada, tonight: Mainly cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers early this evening. Clearing this evening. Fog patches developing overnight. Wind northwest 20 km/h becoming light near midnight. Low minus 6.
How this verdict is worked out
It uses three inputs and is not a percentage chance. First, the highest Kp in NOAA’s forecast for the 3-hour blocks that overlap tonight’s dark hours: below Kp 3 counts as quiet, Kp 3 as a faint glow low in the north, Kp 4 as usually visible to the north, and Kp 6 or more as possibly overhead. These levels are rough guides for Prince George’s latitude (about 53.9° north) from NOAA’s aurora view-line maps.
Second, the average forecast cloud cover over the dark hours (Open-Meteo model): 30% or less counts as mostly clear, 70% or more as cloudy. Third, whether it gets dark: from the end of astronomical twilight (sun 18° below the horizon) until it begins again, or nautical twilight (12°) in summer, computed for Prince George. The moon’s phase and when it is up are computed too and only add a note.
Kp is a planet-wide 3-hour average, so the aurora can flare up or fade within minutes. NOAA’s 30-minute OVATION forecast and the solar wind below show what is happening right now.
Right now
It is not dark yet in Prince George; these show what space weather is doing.
Estimated Kp now
3.0
faint, low in the north
Aurora overhead (OVATION)
0%
Up to 1% farther north (57° N), low on the horizon from here
Solar wind speed
438 km/s
Typical (about 300 to 450)
Magnetic field (Bz)
+2 nT
Northward: holds activity back
Next three nights
The highest forecast Kp during each night’s dark hours, with the cloud forecast and the moon.
| Night | Dark | Kp | Cloud | Moon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tonight | 7:55 p.m. to 5:55 a.m. | 3.7faint, low in the north | 3% | Waxing gibbous, 90% lit, up until 4:45 a.m. |
| Friday night | 7:53 p.m. to 5:57 a.m. | 2.7quiet | 96% | Waxing gibbous, 96% lit, up all night |
| Saturday night | 7:51 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. | 3.0faint, low in the north | 0% | Full moon, 99% lit, up all night |
Tonight, block by block
- 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.3.7
- 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.3.3
- 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.3.0
- 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.2.7
- 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.2.3
Last 24 hours
Recorded Kp in 3-hour blocks; the highest was Kp 4.3.
- Wed 5:00 p.m.2.3
- Wed 8:00 p.m.3.0
- Wed 11:00 p.m.3.0
- Thu 2:00 a.m.4.3
- Thu 5:00 a.m.4.0
- Thu 8:00 a.m.3.7
- Thu 11:00 a.m.3.7
Where to watch near Prince George
The aurora usually starts low in the northern sky, so look for a wide view north and as little artificial light as you can find. Skies get darker the farther you are from the city. These public places are away from the city’s lights:
- West Lake ParkProvincial park · 21 km · 32 min driveDirections
- Buckhorn LakeRecreation site · 24 km · 43 min driveListed as a summer place: road access may not be kept up in winter.Directions
- Ness LakeLake · 28 km · 44 min driveListed as a summer place: road access may not be kept up in winter.Directions
- Purden Lake ParkProvincial park · 55 km · 51 min driveDirections
- Nelson Lake Rec SiteRecreation site · 39 km · 55 min driveDirections
- Crooked River ParkProvincial park · 62 km · 1 h 2 min driveDirections
- Cluculz LakeLake · 54 km · 1 h 10 min driveDirections
Places: BC Parks Data API; Recreation Sites and Trails BC (BC Data Catalogue); BC Freshwater Atlas lakes (BC Data Catalogue). Distances are straight-line from the city centre; drive times from OpenStreetMap routing.
Safety at night
- Park well off the highway with your lights off only where it is legal and safe; never stop on the shoulder to look up.
- Check road conditions before you go (highway conditions), tell someone where you are going, and expect no phone signal at some lakes.
- Dress for the cold: nights here can be well below freezing from fall to spring. Bring a headlamp with a red setting and watch for wildlife on the roads.
- Stay off lake ice unless you know it is safe.
How to photograph the northern lights
- Phone: use night mode, hold it steady against something (or a small tripod), and turn the flash off. A camera often shows colour your eyes cannot see in a faint display.
- Camera: on a tripod, the widest lens you have at its widest aperture, manual focus set on a bright star or a distant light, ISO 1600 to 3200 and 5 to 15 seconds; shorter when the aurora moves fast.
- Shoot in raw if you can, use a 2-second timer, and keep batteries warm in a pocket: cold drains them fast.
- Give your eyes 20 minutes away from screens and white light to adjust to the dark.
Why Prince George sees the northern lights
The aurora forms in an oval around the magnetic north pole, where particles from the sun meet the upper atmosphere. At about 53.9° north, Prince George sits south of that oval on quiet nights, so the lights show up here when activity rises and the oval spreads south: first as a glow low in the northern sky, and in a geomagnetic storm overhead.
The Kp index measures that activity from 0 to 9. NOAA forecasts it three days ahead in 3-hour blocks, which is what the verdict above uses. Long, dark nights from late August to April give the most chances; around midsummer it never gets fully dark this far north.
Questions
Can you see the northern lights in Prince George tonight?
Possible, low in the northern sky. Kp 3 to 4 can show a faint glow low on the northern horizon from a dark spot; a phone camera often sees more than your eyes. Skies are forecast to be mostly clear. A bright moon is up for most of the night, which washes out fainter displays.
What Kp index do you need to see the northern lights in Prince George?
At about 53.9° north, a Kp of 3 can show a faint glow low on the northern horizon from a dark spot, Kp 4 or more is usually visible to the north, and Kp 6 or more (a geomagnetic storm) can bring the lights overhead. Clouds, city lights and a bright moon hide fainter displays.
When is the best time to see the northern lights in Prince George?
When it is fully dark: tonight from 7:55 p.m. to 5:55 a.m.. Displays are often strongest within an hour or two of local midnight, and the darker months from late August to April give the longest nights.
Where can you see the northern lights near Prince George?
Anywhere dark with a clear view north, away from city lights. Public places within about an hour’s drive include West Lake Park, Buckhorn Lake, Ness Lake, Purden Lake Park, Nelson Lake Rec Site.
What does the Kp index mean?
Kp is NOAA’s planetary index of geomagnetic activity, from 0 (quiet) to 9 (extreme storm), measured in 3-hour blocks. The higher it goes, the farther south the aurora reaches. Kp 5 is a minor (G1) geomagnetic storm.
Related
Kp observed and forecast: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center; aurora nowcast: NOAA OVATION model; solar wind: NOAA real-time solar wind (public domain, US government). Cloud cover: Open-Meteo model forecast (CC BY 4.0). Forecast text: Environment and Climate Change Canada. Darkness, twilight and the moon: computed for Prince George from standard solar and lunar equations. Viewing tips: NOAA SWPC. Data as JSON: /api/v1/northern-lights.
