Tasmania, AustraliaMagnetic latitude 53.5°Population 1,47421 m above sea level
Southern lights in Richmond, Tasmania
Richmond needs an active night: from about Kp 4.3 the aurora appears low over the south horizon, and it rises higher as activity grows. Since 1995 storms of Kp 4.7 or more reached this place during darkness on 860 nights.
Right now
It is still light here. Darkness starts at 20:42.
Latest measured half-hour activity worldwide: Hp30 0.3.
Updates every minute while this page is open. Ground data: GFZ Potsdam Hp30 index (CC BY 4.0).
Tonight in one minute
Maybe — worth a look
- Solar activity Strong enough: Kp 4.7 expected, 4.3 needed here.
- Sky Partly cloudy (66% cloud) — look for gaps.
- Darkness Dark from 20:42 to 05:07.
What to do: Go somewhere dark around 23:00, give your eyes 15 minutes to adjust and look south, low over the horizon.
Tuesday 20 October — Possible · Kp 4.7 · best around 04:30 · Forecast cloud: 66%. · Reliability: good
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 15:21 local time
Unlikely
Best around 23:00. Forecast max Kp 4.7 (this place needs 4.3), average cloud 66%.
- Dark enough
- 20:42 – 05:07
- Sunset
- 19:37 · sunrise 06:12
- Moon
- 55% · ↑ 11:59 · ↓ 03:17
- Kp neededKp index: a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity. The higher it is, the further from the poles the aurora reaches.
- Kp 4.3
- Kp for photos
- In photos: from Kp 2.7 (a red glow low in the south).
- Look towards
- south (190°)
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 | Mon, 20 | Mon, 23 | Tue, 02 | Tue, 20 | Tue, 23 | Wed, 02 | Wed, 20 | Wed, 23 | Thu, 02 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 0% | 0% | 0% | 2% | 4% | 1% | 61% | 100% | 66% |
| Mid cloud | 63% | 14% | 6% | 52% | 51% | 55% | 23% | 0% | 0% |
| High cloud | 50% | 47% | 52% | 20% | 32% | 19% | 4% | 9% | 4% |
| Temperature | 20 °C | 16 °C | 14 °C | 19 °C | 15 °C | 13 °C | 15 °C | 13 °C | 11 °C |
| Feels like | 20 °C | 16 °C | 14 °C | 19 °C | 15 °C | 13 °C | 15 °C | 13 °C | 11 °C |
| Wind | 2 m/s | 3 m/s | 2 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 0 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 Richmond
The aurora only shows through clear skies, so the weather matters as much as the Kp index. Here is the general forecast for Richmond: temperature, wind and the chance of rain for the coming days.
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What you would see from Richmond
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 | 1° | 7° | 1,001 km |
| 3 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 4° | 11° | 778 km |
| 4 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 8° | 17° | 556 km |
| 5 | Visible to the south | 16° | 29° | 334 km |
| 6 | Visible to the south | 43° | 60° | 111 km |
| 7 | Overhead and all around | – | – | – |
| 8 | Overhead and all around | – | – | – |
| 9 | Overhead, and also to the north | – | – | – |
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 camera in Richmond Bright in the Arctic; low on the horizon in central Scandinavia and southern Iceland.
- Kp 4 Active eye in Richmond 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) 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.
A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the north-east. Open in OpenStreetMap
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 Richmond
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
August has been the best month (5% of nights), followed by September (4%).
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March | 4% | 65% | 9.5 h | 8° / 19°C |
| April | 4% | 66% | 11.0 h | 7° / 15°C |
| May | 4% | 61% | 12.0 h | 5° / 12°C |
| June | 4% | 64% | 12.6 h | 4° / 10°C |
| July | 3% | 59% | 12.3 h | 3° / 9°C |
| August | 5% | 65% | 11.4 h | 3° / 10°C |
| September | 4% | 67% | 9.9 h | 4° / 12°C |
| October | 4% | 64% | 8.5 h | 5° / 14°C |
Aurora nights in Richmond since 1995
Nights when Kp reached 4.7 or more while it was dark here.
Most recent strong nights
- 10 October 2026 · Kp 7.3
- 4 October 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 18 August 2026 · Kp 5.3
- 8 August 2026 · Kp 6.0
- 2 August 2026 · Kp 5.7
- 23 July 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 4 July 2026 · Kp 6.7
- 5 June 2026 · Kp 6.0
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Hobart International Airport (HBA) · 13 km
- Typical low / high in August
- 3° / 10°C
- What to wear
- Cool nights: layers, a windproof jacket, hat and gloves for standing still outside. Full clothing guide
- Emergency number
- 000 (112 also works from mobile phones)
- Winter driving
- Under Victoria's Alpine Resorts (Management) Regulations 2020, every vehicle entering Falls Creek, Mt Baw Baw, Mt Buller, Mt Hotham and Mt Stirling must carry fitting wheel chains during the declared snow season (2026: 7 June - 4 October). Check VicTraffic for live Victorian road disruptions; in Tasmania, elevated roads get snow and ice in winter and closures are posted via Tasmania Police alerts / TasALERT. Road conditions
- Access to land
- Most Tasmanian national parks require a valid Parks & Wildlife Service parks pass per vehicle (24-hour, holiday/8-week, annual options; Cradle Mountain excluded from the 24-hour pass). Check land tenure before parking at night and respect any local closures.
- Official space-weather service
- Bureau of Meteorology Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre (Aurora Watch/Alert/Outlook)
- Weather service
- Bureau of Meteorology
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Richmond?
Richmond needs an active night: from about Kp 4.3 the aurora appears low over the south horizon, and it rises higher as activity grows.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Richmond?
Face south (about 190° from true north). At Kp 4.3 the lower edge of the aurora sits roughly 16° above the horizon; stronger activity lifts it higher and further across the sky.
What is the best month to see the aurora in Richmond?
Over 2005–2025, August gave the best odds in Richmond (5% of nights dark, active enough and mostly clear), followed by September (4%).
When is the aurora season in Richmond?
Richmond gets dark enough for the aurora all year round, though the long winter nights give the most hours to watch.
Is there much light pollution in Richmond?
Little artificial light. Faint displays are visible once your eyes have adapted. A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the north-east.
When was the aurora last possible in Richmond?
Activity last reached storm level (Kp 5 or more) during darkness in Richmond on 10 October 2026 (Kp 7.3) — 860 such nights since 1995. Here the aurora also appears on many quieter nights.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Richmond share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- Dulcot 7 km
- Campania 8 km
- Lowdina 11 km
- Runnymede 14 km
- Levendale 25 km
- Woodsdale 30 km