Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands Province, ArgentinaMagnetic latitude 41.6°Population 3,000120 m above sea level
Can you see the southern lights in Tolhuin?
From Tolhuin the aurora is too low for the naked eye except in the most extreme storms, but in severe storms (about Kp 7.3 or more) cameras record a red glow low in the south. Strong enough for photos on 51 nights since 1995 — most recently on 12 November 2025.
Right now
It is still light here. Darkness starts at 21:54.
Updates every minute while this page is open.
Tonight in one minute
Not tonight
- Solar activity Too weak: Kp 2.3 expected, 7.3 needed here.
- Sky Mostly clear (36% cloud).
- Darkness Dark from 21:54 to 04:31. A bright moon (83%) washes out faint displays.
What to do: Not tonight — your next chance is shown just below.
Thursday 22 October — No · Kp 2.3 · Forecast cloud: 36%. · Reliability: medium
Each box is one night: the colour shows the chance, the number the expected Kp. Tap a night for details.
📅 Add these nights to your calendar — it updates itself (.ics)
How far ahead can the northern lights be forecast?
- Minutes to an hour: satellites 1.5 million km away measure the solar wind before it reaches Earth. This is the surest warning — the “Right now” box uses it.
- 1–3 days: when the Sun throws out a cloud of particles, it takes one to three days to arrive. NOAA's 3-hourly forecast covers these nights; the timing can still be off by a few hours.
- 4–27 days: the Sun turns once every 27 days, and regions that disturbed Earth's field last time often do it again. NOAA's 27-day outlook gives this rough trend — new eruptions are not in it yet.
Tonight
Updated 05:31 local time
Unlikely
Best around 21:00. Forecast max Kp 2.3 (this place needs 9+), average cloud 36%.
- Dark enough
- 21:54 – 04:31
- Sunset
- 20:24 · sunrise 06:00
- Moon
- 83% · ↑ 16:09 · ↓ 04:48
- Kp neededKp index: a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity. The higher it is, the further from the poles the aurora reaches.
- Kp 9+
- Kp for photos
- In photos: from Kp 7.3 (a red glow low in the south).
- Look towards
- south (172°)
Cloud layers and weather
Low cloud blocks the aurora completely. Thin high cloud often still lets a bright aurora shine through, so a sky with only high cloud is worth a look.
| Time | Thu, 21 | Fri, 00 | Fri, 03 | Fri, 22 | Sat, 01 | Sat, 04 | Sat, 23 | Sun, 02 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 8% | 5% | 0% | 43% | 22% | 7% | 0% | 0% |
| Mid cloud | 49% | 25% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 7% | 21% |
| High cloud | 34% | 14% | 0% | 3% | 1% | 0% | 5% | 16% |
| Temperature | 6 °C | 4 °C | 4 °C | 7 °C | 5 °C | 5 °C | 7 °C | 5 °C |
| Feels like | 5 °C | 3 °C | 4 °C | 7 °C | 5 °C | 5 °C | 7 °C | 5 °C |
| Wind | 2 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 0 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s |
Cloud layers and weather: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).
Score = activity (NOAA Kp and OVATION) × clear sky (MET Norway) × darkness × moonlight. Methodology
Weather in Tolhuin
The aurora only shows through clear skies, so the weather matters as much as the Kp index. Here is the general forecast for Tolhuin: temperature, wind and the chance of rain for the coming days.
Planning further ahead? See the hour-by-hour weather forecast for Tolhuin on Atlas of Seasons.
Seeing it right now?
Tell others in Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands Province. Reports from real visitors move a place up the live ranking.
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Live webcams near Tolhuin
Check the sky for yourself: public cameras within 300 km. They open on the camera owner's website.
- Tolhuin, Tierra del Fuego ↗ Open the live camera (opens in a new tab) Scenic
- Puerto Williams ↗ Open the live camera (opens in a new tab) Scenic
- Ushuaia ↗ Open the live camera (opens in a new tab) Scenic
- Punta Arenas ↗ Open the live camera (opens in a new tab) Scenic
These cameras belong to their owners — we only link to them. Most show little in daylight or under cloud, and some pause in summer.
What you would see from Tolhuin
Facing south. Bands show where the aurora sits at two activity levels.
| Kp | What you see | Lower edge | Ray tops | Distance to the aurora |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Below the horizon | -8° | -6° | 2,324 km |
| 3 | Below the horizon | -7° | -4° | 2,102 km |
| 4 | Below the horizon | -5° | -3° | 1,879 km |
| 5 | Below the horizon | -4° | -1° | 1,657 km |
| 6 | Below the horizon | -2° | 1° | 1,434 km |
| 7 | Below the horizon | -1° | 4° | 1,212 km |
| 8 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 2° | 7° | 990 km |
| 9 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 4° | 11° | 767 km |
The Kp scale in plain words
Kp is a 0–9 score for how strongly the Earth's magnetic field is being shaken by the solar wind. The higher it goes, the further from the poles the northern lights reach. Kp 0–2 is a quiet night; Kp 5 and above is a geomagnetic storm.
- Kp 0–2 Quiet Only under the auroral oval: northern Norway, Swedish and Finnish Lapland, Iceland, Alaska, northern Canada.
- Kp 3 Unsettled Bright in the Arctic; low on the horizon in central Scandinavia and southern Iceland.
- Kp 4 Active Overhead in the Arctic; low in the north from southern Norway, Sweden, Finland and northern Scotland.
- Kp 5 Minor storm (G1) next 24 h Scotland, southern Scandinavia, the Baltic states, the northern US states and southern Canada.
- Kp 6 Moderate storm (G2) Northern England, Denmark, northern Germany and Poland, the US Midwest — often clearer in photos than to the eye.
- Kp 7 Strong storm (G3) camera in Tolhuin Most of the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czechia; red glow in photos from France and the northern Alps.
- Kp 8 Severe storm (G4) Central Europe to the eye; red sky in photos from northern Italy, Spain, the Balkans and Turkey's Black Sea coast.
- Kp 9 Extreme storm (G5) Seen across Europe and the US; in photos as far south as the Mediterranean, Turkey and North Africa (May 2024).
Light pollution
Dark rural sky. Little artificial light. Faint displays are visible once your eyes have adapted.
Estimate from NASA VIIRS night-light data (sky-glow model within 50 km). Check access and private land before you go.
Hills and mountains
Terrain is not modelled for this place.
From elevation data (AWS Terrain Tiles) along seven lines of sight up to 30 km.
Best months to see the aurora in Tolhuin
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
Activity of Kp 9+ or more is too rare here for monthly odds to be meaningful. The table still shows how often nights are clear and dark.
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March | 0% | 41% | 8.6 h | 4° / 10°C |
| April | 0% | 43% | 10.9 h | 3° / 7°C |
| May | 0% | 49% | 12.6 h | 1° / 5°C |
| June | 0% | 48% | 13.4 h | 0° / 3°C |
| July | 0% | 48% | 13.1 h | -1° / 2°C |
| August | 0% | 48% | 11.6 h | -1° / 3°C |
| September | 0% | 46% | 9.6 h | 1° / 5°C |
| October | 0% | 44% | 7.0 h | 2° / 8°C |
Darkness through the year
- No full darkness (Sun 12° below the horizon) from 11 December to 1 January — the sky stays too bright for most auroras.
- Next new moon 9 November, next full moon 26 October. The darkest skies are in the week around new moon.
Nights when Tolhuin could catch it in photos
Since 1995, nights with Kp 7.3 or more while it was dark here — a red or green glow low on the horizon.
- 12 November 2025 · Kp 7.3
- 11 November 2025 · Kp 8.7
- 31 May 2025 · Kp 7.7
- 10 October 2024 · Kp 8.3
- 16 September 2024 · Kp 7.3
- 11 May 2024 · Kp 7.7
- 10 May 2024 · Kp 9.0
- 23 April 2023 · Kp 8.0
- 23 March 2023 · Kp 8.0
- 25 August 2018 · Kp 7.3
- 7 September 2017 · Kp 8.0
- 22 June 2015 · Kp 7.7
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Ushuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH) · 80 km
- Typical low / high in January
- 5° / 11°C
- What to wear
- Cool nights: layers, a windproof jacket, hat and gloves for standing still outside. Full clothing guide
- Emergency number
- 911 (national emergencies); 107 medical (varies by locality); 100 fire; 103 Defensa Civil
- Winter driving
- On RN 3 in Tierra del Fuego, winter road reports based on Vialidad Nacional data require chains for heavy vehicles and winter tyres for light vehicles, and the Ushuaia-Tolhuin section (Paso Garibaldi) can close in heavy snow. Check Vialidad Nacional's road status before travelling. Road conditions
- Access to land
- Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego (APN) has daytime entry hours (April-September 9:00-18:00); free camping is permitted only in designated areas with an APN camping permit, so night viewing inside the park means staying at an authorised campsite.
- Weather service
- Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (SMN)
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Tolhuin?
From Tolhuin the aurora is too low for the naked eye except in the most extreme storms, but in severe storms (about Kp 7.3 or more) cameras record a red glow low in the south.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Tolhuin?
Around Tolhuin the aurora is often right overhead. Start by facing south, but look up and all around — in strong storms it can fill the whole sky and even appear behind you.
When is the aurora season in Tolhuin?
From 11 December to 1 January the sky in Tolhuin never gets dark enough. Outside that period the aurora can be seen whenever activity and clouds allow.
Is there much light pollution in Tolhuin?
Little artificial light. Faint displays are visible once your eyes have adapted.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Tolhuin share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- Misión Fagnano 6 km
- Lago Fagnano 29 km
- Río Ewan 34 km
- San Pablo 39 km
- Cabo San Pablo 40 km