Magellan and the Chilean Antarctic Region, ChileMagnetic latitude 41.9°Population 2,0007 m above sea level
Can you see the southern lights in Puerto Williams?
From Puerto Williams 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 21:58.
Latest measured half-hour activity worldwide: Hp30 3.
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 Too weak: Kp 2.7 expected, 7.3 needed here.
- Sky Overcast (98% cloud).
- Darkness Dark from 21:58 to 04:30. A bright moon (85%) washes out faint displays.
What to do: Not tonight — your next chance is shown just below.
Friday 23 October — No · Kp 2.7 · Forecast cloud: 98%. · 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 11:11 local time
Unlikely
Best around 21:00. Forecast max Kp 2.7 (this place needs 9+), average cloud 98%.
- Dark enough
- 21:58 – 04:30
- Sunset
- 20:27 · sunrise 06:01
- Moon
- 85% · ↑ 16:11 · ↓ 04:58
- 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, 23 | Sat, 02 | Sat, 22 | Sun, 01 | Sun, 04 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 4% | 17% | 31% | 19% | 34% | 21% | 27% | 25% |
| Mid cloud | 63% | 28% | 0% | 4% | 9% | 9% | 52% | 69% |
| High cloud | 53% | 37% | 24% | 37% | 10% | 5% | 27% | 51% |
| Temperature | 5 °C | 4 °C | 4 °C | 5 °C | 4 °C | 6 °C | 5 °C | 6 °C |
| Feels like | 5 °C | 4 °C | 4 °C | 5 °C | 4 °C | 6 °C | 5 °C | 6 °C |
| Wind | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 0 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 0 m/s | 1 m/s |
Cloud layers and weather: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).
Clearer skies nearby tonight
Forecast cloud during tonight's darkness: 98% here. The clearest option within 100 km is about 100 km to the north-west, with 25%. 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 Puerto Williams
The aurora only shows through clear skies, so the weather matters as much as the Kp index. Here is the general forecast for Puerto Williams: temperature, wind and the chance of rain for the coming days.
Planning further ahead? See the hour-by-hour weather forecast for Puerto Williams on Atlas of Seasons.
Seeing it right now?
Tell others in Magellan and the Chilean Antarctic Region. Reports from real visitors move a place up the live ranking.
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Live webcams near Puerto Williams
Check the sky for yourself: public cameras within 300 km. They open on the camera owner's website.
- Puerto Williams ↗ Open the live camera (opens in a new tab) Scenic
- Ushuaia ↗ Open the live camera (opens in a new tab) Scenic
- Tolhuin, Tierra del Fuego ↗ 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 Puerto Williams
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° | -5° | 2,291 km |
| 3 | Below the horizon | -6° | -4° | 2,068 km |
| 4 | Below the horizon | -5° | -2° | 1,846 km |
| 5 | Below the horizon | -4° | 0° | 1,624 km |
| 6 | Below the horizon | -2° | 2° | 1,401 km |
| 7 | Below the horizon | 0° | 4° | 1,179 km |
| 8 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 2° | 7° | 956 km |
| 9 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 5° | 12° | 734 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 next 24 h 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) camera in Puerto Williams 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
Pristine dark sky. Almost no artificial light: faint aurora and the Milky Way are easy to see.
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 Puerto Williams
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% | 8.5 h | 3° / 9°C |
| April | 0% | 43% | 10.9 h | 2° / 6°C |
| May | 0% | 49% | 12.6 h | 0° / 4°C |
| June | 0% | 48% | 13.6 h | -2° / 1°C |
| July | 0% | 48% | 13.3 h | -3° / 1°C |
| August | 0% | 48% | 11.6 h | -2° / 2°C |
| September | 0% | 46% | 9.5 h | -1° / 5°C |
| October | 0% | 44% | 7.0 h | 1° / 7°C |
Darkness through the year
- No full darkness (Sun 12° below the horizon) from 6 December to 6 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 Puerto Williams 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
Where to watch near Puerto Williams
-
Parque Etnobotánico Omora
Forest reserve just outside town where the May 2024 aurora was photographed, away from street lights. · about 5 km · Open in OpenStreetMap
-
Cerro Bandera
Summit above town with 360-degree views including south over the Dientes de Navarino; a steep hike. · about 6 km · Open in OpenStreetMap
-
Puerto Williams waterfront
Easiest spot in town for overhead displays during major storms, though some street light is present. · about 1 km · Open in OpenStreetMap
Local knowledge
- Although this is a very high southern latitude, the south magnetic pole is offset towards Australia and New Zealand, so naked-eye aurora here is rare and usually needs a strong geomagnetic storm (as in May and October 2024).
- During the May 2024 storm aurora was photographed from Parque Omora near Puerto Williams.
- The town faces north over the Beagle Channel; the Navarino mountains behind it block the low southern sky, so only strong displays rise high enough.
- Follow NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center alerts and look for clear, low-light nights.
- A long-exposure camera picks up colour that the eye may miss.
Do not attempt the Cerro Bandera trail alone at night; it climbs about 600 m on steep ground and weather changes quickly.
Register hikes beyond town with the local authorities and carry warm, windproof clothing.
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Ushuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH) · 45 km
- Typical low / high in January
- 4° / 11°C
- What to wear
- Cool nights: layers, a windproof jacket, hat and gloves for standing still outside. Full clothing guide
- Emergency number
- 131 ambulance (SAMU), 132 fire (Bomberos), 133 Carabineros; 136 Socorro Andino (mountain rescue)
- Winter driving
- MOP's Dirección de Vialidad runs a winter operations plan (coordinated with Argentina from Antofagasta to Magallanes) for snow clearance on routes and border passes; check Vialidad for closures and any chain requirements. Road conditions
- Access to land
- Torres del Paine and other Magallanes protected areas are managed by CONAF; check park opening rules before planning night stops.
- Weather service
- Dirección Meteorológica de Chile (DMC)
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Puerto Williams?
From Puerto Williams 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 Puerto Williams?
Around Puerto Williams 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 Puerto Williams?
From 6 December to 6 January the sky in Puerto Williams never gets dark enough. Outside that period the aurora can be seen whenever activity and clouds allow.
Is there much light pollution in Puerto Williams?
Almost no artificial light: faint aurora and the Milky Way are easy to see.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Puerto Williams share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- Puerto Mejillones 24 km
- Puerto Toro 38 km
- Caleta Piedras 39 km