Yukon, CanadaMagnetic latitude 65.8°Population 1,375370 m above sea level
Northern lights in Dawson City
Dawson City 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
It is still light here. Darkness starts at 20:30.
Latest measured half-hour activity worldwide: Hp30 1.
Updates every minute while this page is open. Ground data: GFZ Potsdam Hp30 index (CC BY 4.0).
Tonight in one minute
Not tonight
- Solar activity Strong enough: Kp 3 expected, 0 needed here.
- Sky Overcast (92% cloud).
- Darkness Dark from 20:30 to 07:36.
What to do: Not tonight — your next chance is shown just below.
Friday 23 October — Possible · Kp 4 · best around 01:30 · Forecast cloud: 44%. · Reliability: low (rough trend)
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 12:06 local time
Possible
Best around 04:00. Forecast max Kp 3.0 (this place needs 0), average cloud 92%.
- Dark enough
- 20:30 – 07:36
- Sunset
- 18:46 · sunrise 09:20
- Moon
- 51% · ↑ 18:33 · ↓ 23:03
- 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 (22°)
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 | Sun, 20 | Sun, 23 | Mon, 02 | Mon, 05 | Mon, 20 | Mon, 23 | Tue, 02 | Tue, 05 | Tue, 20 | Tue, 23 | Wed, 02 | Wed, 05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 52% | 37% | 30% | 26% | 40% | 50% | 57% | 61% | 78% | 100% | 71% | 32% |
| Mid cloud | 58% | 54% | 49% | 46% | 100% | 100% | 88% | 75% | 77% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| High cloud | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 21% | 45% | 62% | 72% | 13% | 41% | 73% | 100% |
| Temperature | 1 °C | 0 °C | -1 °C | -1 °C | 2 °C | 1 °C | 1 °C | 1 °C | 2 °C | 2 °C | 1 °C | 0 °C |
| Feels like | 1 °C | 0 °C | -1 °C | -1 °C | 0 °C | 1 °C | 1 °C | 1 °C | 2 °C | 2 °C | -1 °C | -3 °C |
| Wind | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 2 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s |
Cloud layers and weather: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).
Clearer skies nearby tonight
Forecast cloud during tonight's darkness: 92% here. The clearest option within 100 km is about 60 km to the south, with 46%. Open in OpenStreetMap
MET Norway forecast at 24 points within 100 km, averaged over the dark hours. Check roads and conditions before driving.
Score = activity (NOAA Kp and OVATION) × clear sky (MET Norway) × darkness × moonlight. Methodology
Weather in Dawson City
The aurora only shows through clear skies, so the weather matters as much as the Kp index. Here is the general forecast for Dawson City: temperature, wind and the chance of rain for the coming days.
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What you would see from Dawson City
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 | Visible to the north-north-east | 53° | 68° | 78 km |
| 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 Dawson City 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
Suburban sky. Noticeable sky glow. Bright displays are visible, but driving out of town makes a clear difference.
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
The terrain rises to about 12° above the horizon towards the north-north-east. That hides low aurora: here you need about Kp 0 instead of Kp 0. A hilltop, shore or open field with a clear view to the north-north-east helps.
From elevation data (AWS Terrain Tiles) along seven lines of sight up to 30 km.
Best months to see the aurora in Dawson City
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
March has been the best month (74% of nights), followed by February (68%).
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 39% | 39% | 7.1 h | 1° / 9°C |
| October | 33% | 33% | 10.5 h | -8° / -2°C |
| November | 55% | 55% | 13.3 h | -21° / -14°C |
| December | 64% | 64% | 14.6 h | -23° / -17°C |
| January | 65% | 65% | 14.0 h | -24° / -17°C |
| February | 68% | 68% | 11.5 h | -24° / -16°C |
| March | 74% | 74% | 8.6 h | -20° / -9°C |
| April | 47% | 69% | 3.8 h | -10° / -1°C |
Darkness through the year
- No full darkness (Sun 12° below the horizon) from 26 April to 16 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 Dawson City 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
Where to watch near Dawson City
-
Midnight Dome
Summit lookout directly above town with a panoramic view over Dawson and the Yukon River valley. · about 8 km · Open in OpenStreetMap
-
Dempster Highway junction (Klondike River)
Start of the Dempster Highway, well away from town lights and the gateway to darker sites further north. · about 40 km · Open in OpenStreetMap
-
Tombstone Interpretive Centre (Tombstone Territorial Park)
Open subarctic tundra with clear horizons that is popular with aurora photographers; the centre itself is closed in winter. · about 111 km · Open in OpenStreetMap
Local knowledge
- Dawson City is a small Klondike Gold Rush town with little light pollution, so auroras are often visible from town itself.
- Travel Yukon gives the aurora window as mid-August to mid-April, with the best viewing roughly 10 pm to 3 am on clear, moonless nights.
- Midnight Dome, the hill directly above town, is the classic panoramic lookout over Dawson and the Yukon River.
- The Dempster Highway begins about 40 km east of town and leads to the treeless tundra of Tombstone Territorial Park, about 1.5 hours away.
- Dawson City Airport (YDA) has Air North flights to Whitehorse, Inuvik and Old Crow.
The Dempster Highway is gravel and icy in winter, with no fuel, food or cell service at Tombstone; many rental agreements exclude it, so carry spare tires, extra fuel and emergency gear.
Check Yukon government road and park notices before going, since Tombstone facilities close for winter.
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Dawson City Airport (YDA) · 15 km
- Typical low / high in March
- -20° / -9°C
- What to wear
- Arctic cold: wool base layers, insulated jacket and trousers, warm boots, hat and mittens. 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 Dawson City?
Dawson City 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 Dawson City?
Face north-north-east (about 22° from true north). At Kp 0 the lower edge of the aurora sits roughly 53° above the horizon; stronger activity lifts it higher and further across the sky.
What is the best month to see the aurora in Dawson City?
Over 2005–2025, March gave the best odds in Dawson City (74% of nights dark, active enough and mostly clear), followed by February (68%).
When is the aurora season in Dawson City?
From 26 April to 16 August the sky in Dawson City never gets dark enough. Outside that period the aurora can be seen whenever activity and clouds allow.
Is there much light pollution in Dawson City?
Noticeable sky glow. Bright displays are visible, but driving out of town makes a clear difference. A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the north-east.
When was the aurora last possible in Dawson City?
Activity last reached storm level (Kp 5 or more) during darkness in Dawson City on 4 October 2026 (Kp 5.0) — 684 such nights since 1995. Here the aurora also appears on many quieter nights.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Dawson City share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- Dawson 2 km
- Dawson 3 km
- Mooshide 4 km