Northwest Territories, CanadaMagnetic latitude 66.6°Population 2,542205 m above sea level
Northern lights in Fort Smith
Fort Smith sits right under the auroral oval: on clear, dark nights the aurora is often overhead, even when activity is quiet. Clouds matter far more than the Kp number here.
Right now
The aurora may be in view right now — go outside and look north-north-east!
Latest measured half-hour activity worldwide: Hp30 2.
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 3 expected, 0 needed here.
- Sky Partly cloudy (57% cloud) — look for gaps.
- Darkness Dark from 19:32 to 06:53. A bright moon (76%) washes out faint displays.
What to do: Go somewhere dark around 04:00, give your eyes 15 minutes to adjust and look north-north-east, low over the horizon.
Wednesday 21 October — Good chance · Kp 3 · best around 04:30 · Forecast cloud: 54%. · 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 04:10 local time
Good chance
Best around 04:00. Forecast max Kp 3.0 (this place needs 0), average cloud 57%.
- Dark enough
- 19:32 – 06:53
- Sunset
- 18:00 · sunrise 08:25
- Moon
- 76% · ↑ 16:57 · ↓ 01:57
- Kp neededKp index: a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity. The higher it is, the further from the poles the aurora reaches.
- Kp 0
- Look towards
- north-north-east (18°)
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 | Wed, 04 | Wed, 19 | Wed, 22 | Thu, 01 | Thu, 04 | Thu, 19 | Thu, 22 | Fri, 01 | Fri, 04 | Fri, 19 | Fri, 22 | Sat, 01 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Mid cloud | 0% | 0% | 9% | 25% | 44% | 100% | 100% | 99% | 94% | 75% | 91% | 100% |
| High cloud | 63% | 96% | 68% | 39% | 12% | 21% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 46% | 16% | 0% |
| Temperature | 3 °C | 7 °C | 5 °C | 4 °C | 4 °C | 3 °C | 1 °C | 0 °C | -1 °C | 0 °C | -1 °C | -2 °C |
| Feels like | 0 °C | 6 °C | 4 °C | 4 °C | 3 °C | -1 °C | -3 °C | -4 °C | -5 °C | -4 °C | -5 °C | -6 °C |
| Wind | 3 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 4 m/s | 4 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 4 m/s | 4 m/s | 4 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 Fort Smith
The aurora only shows through clear skies, so the weather matters as much as the Kp index. Here is the general forecast for Fort Smith: temperature, wind and the chance of rain for the coming days.
Planning further ahead? See the hour-by-hour weather forecast for Fort Smith on Atlas of Seasons.
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What you would see from Fort Smith
Facing north-north-east. Bands show where the aurora sits at two activity levels.
| Kp | What you see | Lower edge | Ray tops | Distance to the aurora |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Overhead and all around | – | – | – |
| 2 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 3 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 4 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 5 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 6 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 7 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 8 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
| 9 | Overhead, and also to the south-south-west | – | – | – |
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 eye in Fort Smith Only under the auroral oval: northern Norway, Swedish and Finnish Lapland, Iceland, Alaska, northern Canada.
- Kp 3 Unsettled next 24 h 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) 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
City sky. City lights hide all but the brightest displays. Plan to leave the urban area.
A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the south. 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
The horizon towards the north-north-east is open (terrain below 0.0°), so low aurora is not blocked.
From elevation data (AWS Terrain Tiles) along seven lines of sight up to 30 km.
Best months to see the aurora in Fort Smith
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
February has been the best month (74% of nights), followed by March (71%).
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 58% | 58% | 7.9 h | 4° / 14°C |
| October | 34% | 34% | 10.6 h | -4° / 3°C |
| November | 26% | 26% | 13.0 h | -18° / -11°C |
| December | 58% | 58% | 14.1 h | -27° / -20°C |
| January | 59% | 59% | 13.6 h | -29° / -21°C |
| February | 74% | 74% | 11.5 h | -28° / -19°C |
| March | 71% | 71% | 9.1 h | -20° / -10°C |
| April | 64% | 64% | 5.4 h | -8° / 1°C |
Darkness through the year
- No full darkness (Sun 12° below the horizon) from 10 May to 2 August — the sky stays too bright for most auroras.
- Next new moon 9 November, next full moon 25 October. The darkest skies are in the week around new moon.
Aurora nights in Fort Smith since 1995
Nights when Kp reached 4.7 or more while it was dark here.
Most recent strong nights
- 4 October 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 3 October 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 7 September 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 18 April 2026 · Kp 5.3
- 17 April 2026 · Kp 5.3
- 2 April 2026 · Kp 5.3
- 1 April 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 24 March 2026 · Kp 5.0
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Fort Smith Airport (YSM) · 4 km
- Typical low / high in February
- -28° / -19°C
- What to wear
- Extreme cold: insulated boots, down jacket, two layers of wool, face protection, chemical hand warmers. Full clothing guide
- Emergency number
- 911
- Winter driving
- Rules are provincial: Québec requires winter tyres (mountain-snowflake symbol or studded) on Québec-registered vehicles Dec 1–Mar 15, and BC requires winter tyres or chains on signed routes Oct 1–Mar 31 (to Apr 30 on mountain passes/high-snowfall routes); road conditions via 511 Yukon (511yukon.ca), DriveNWT (drivenwt.ca), 511 Alberta, Manitoba 511 (manitoba511.ca) and DriveBC. Road conditions
- Access to land
- There is no national right to roam; private land requires the owner's permission, while national/provincial parks and Crown land are generally accessible subject to park rules, which vary by province and territory.
- Official space-weather service
- Space Weather Canada (Natural Resources Canada)
- Weather service
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (weather.gc.ca)
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Fort Smith?
Fort Smith sits right under the auroral oval: on clear, dark nights the aurora is often overhead, even when activity is quiet. Clouds matter far more than the Kp number here.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Fort Smith?
Around Fort Smith the aurora is often right overhead. Start by facing north-north-east, but look up and all around — in strong storms it can fill the whole sky and even appear behind you.
What is the best month to see the aurora in Fort Smith?
Over 2005–2025, February gave the best odds in Fort Smith (74% of nights dark, active enough and mostly clear), followed by March (71%).
When is the aurora season in Fort Smith?
From 10 May to 2 August the sky in Fort Smith never gets dark enough. Outside that period the aurora can be seen whenever activity and clouds allow.
Is there much light pollution in Fort Smith?
City lights hide all but the brightest displays. Plan to leave the urban area. A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the south.
When was the aurora last possible in Fort Smith?
Activity last reached storm level (Kp 5 or more) during darkness in Fort Smith on 4 October 2026 (Kp 5.0) — 789 such nights since 1995. Here the aurora also appears on many quieter nights.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Fort Smith share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- South Slave Region 0 km
- Fort Smith 11 km
- Fort Smith 11 km
- Fitzgerald 23 km
- Salt Plains 195 26 km