Heilongjiang, ChinaMagnetic latitude 43.0°Population 55,415311 m above sea level
Can you see the northern lights in Xinqing?
From Xinqing 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 north. Strong enough for photos on 53 nights since 1995 — most recently on 10 October 2026.
Right now
It is still light here. Darkness starts at 17:37.
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
Not tonight
- Solar activity Too weak: Kp 2 expected, 7.3 needed here.
- Sky Overcast (99% cloud).
- Darkness Dark from 17:37 to 04:37.
What to do: Not tonight — your next chance is shown just below.
- Detailed forecast Sat 17 2 No · Kp 2
- Sun 18 1.3 No · Kp 1.3
- Mon 19 1.7 No · Kp 1.7
- 27-day trend Tue 20 2 No · Kp 2
- Wed 21 3 No · Kp 3
- Thu 22 4 No · Kp 4
- Fri 23 4 No · Kp 4
- Sat 24 3 No · Kp 3
- Sun 25 2 No · Kp 2
- Mon 26 2 No · Kp 2
- Tue 27 2 No · Kp 2
- Wed 28 2 No · Kp 2
- Thu 29 2 No · Kp 2
- Fri 30 2 No · Kp 2
- Sat 31 5 No · Kp 5
- Sun 1 5 No · Kp 5
- Mon 2 3 No · Kp 3
- Tue 3 2 No · Kp 2
- Wed 4 2 No · Kp 2
- Thu 5 2 No · Kp 2
- Fri 6 3 No · Kp 3
- Sat 7 3 No · Kp 3
Sunday 18 October — No · Kp 2 · Forecast cloud: 99%. · 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 16:10 local time
Unlikely
Best around 17:00. Forecast max Kp 2.0 (this place needs 9+), average cloud 99%.
- Dark enough
- 17:37 – 04:37
- Sunset
- 16:30 · sunrise 05:45
- Moon
- 38% · ↑ 12:34 · ↓ 20:11
- 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 north).
- Look towards
- north (354°)
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 | Sat, 17 | Sat, 20 | Sat, 23 | Sun, 02 | Sun, 17 | Sun, 20 | Sun, 23 | Mon, 02 | Mon, 17 | Mon, 20 | Mon, 23 | Tue, 02 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 0% | 1% | 2% | 9% | 100% | 100% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 17% | 0% |
| Mid cloud | 22% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 28% | 41% | 84% | 5% |
| High cloud | 80% | 99% | 100% | 100% | 44% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Temperature | 3 °C | 3 °C | 3 °C | 3 °C | 4 °C | 6 °C | 2 °C | 0 °C | 4 °C | 2 °C | 2 °C | 0 °C |
| Feels like | -1 °C | 0 °C | 0 °C | 0 °C | 2 °C | 1 °C | -4 °C | -5 °C | -1 °C | -2 °C | -2 °C | -3 °C |
| Wind | 1 m/s | 0 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 7 m/s | 6 m/s | 5 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s |
| Visibility | 35 km | 35 km | 18 km | 5.2 km | 6.2 km | 10 km | 31 km | 30 km | 36 km | 32 km | 32 km | 31 km |
Cloud layers and weather: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).
Score = activity (NOAA Kp and OVATION) × clear sky (MET Norway) × darkness × moonlight. Methodology
Seeing it right now?
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What you would see from Xinqing
Facing north. 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 | -7° | -5° | 2,168 km |
| 3 | Below the horizon | -6° | -3° | 1,946 km |
| 4 | Below the horizon | -4° | -1° | 1,724 km |
| 5 | Below the horizon | -3° | 1° | 1,501 km |
| 6 | Below the horizon | -1° | 3° | 1,279 km |
| 7 | Below the horizon | 1° | 6° | 1,056 km |
| 8 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 3° | 10° | 834 km |
| 9 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 7° | 15° | 612 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 next 24 h 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) 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 Xinqing 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 Xinqing
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 0% | 65% | 9.0 h | 7° / 18°C |
| October | 0% | 70% | 10.8 h | -3° / 8°C |
| November | 0% | 68% | 12.3 h | -13° / -5°C |
| December | 0% | 88% | 13.0 h | -24° / -16°C |
| January | 0% | 92% | 12.8 h | -27° / -17°C |
| February | 0% | 90% | 11.4 h | -23° / -12°C |
| March | 0% | 80% | 9.8 h | -14° / -3°C |
| April | 0% | 57% | 7.8 h | -3° / 9°C |
Nights when Xinqing 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.
- 10 October 2026 · Kp 7.3
- 20 January 2026 · Kp 7.7
- 19 January 2026 · Kp 8.3
- 12 November 2025 · Kp 7.7
- 1 June 2025 · Kp 7.3
- 16 April 2025 · Kp 7.7
- 1 January 2025 · Kp 8.0
- 11 October 2024 · Kp 7.7
- 10 October 2024 · Kp 8.3
- 12 August 2024 · Kp 8.0
- 28 June 2024 · Kp 7.7
- 11 May 2024 · Kp 8.7
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Yichun Lindu Airport (LDS) · 70 km
- Typical low / high in January
- -27° / -17°C
- What to wear
- Extreme cold: insulated boots, down jacket, two layers of wool, face protection, chemical hand warmers. Full clothing guide
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Xinqing?
From Xinqing 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 north.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Xinqing?
Around Xinqing the aurora is often right overhead. Start by facing north, 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 Xinqing?
Xinqing 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 Xinqing?
Almost no artificial light: faint aurora and the Milky Way are easy to see.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Xinqing share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- Tanglin Linchang 2 km
- Fadianchang Nongchang 3 km
- Yulin 3 km
- Xinfeng Nongchang 4 km
- Sanyang Nongchang 4 km
- Nantun 5 km
- Xinqing Qu 6 km
- Zhongxin 6 km
- Jinling Nongchang 6 km
- Liugongli 6 km
- Shuguang Nongchang 7 km
- Hualin Senlin Jingyingsuo 10 km
- Honglin Senlin Jingyingsuo 11 km
- Wuxinghe Jingyingsuo 11 km
- Hongxing 12 km
- Songlin Linchang 12 km
- Erqing Gongqu 13 km
- Sanyang Linchang 13 km
- Hongxing Qu 14 km
- Fendou Qingniandui 14 km
- Hongxing Jingyingsuo 14 km
- Xiawulie 15 km
- Dongcaidi 15 km
- Tangwanghe Qu 16 km
- Qinglin Linchang 16 km
- Pingyuan 16 km
- Qingshuihe Linchang 16 km
- Wuxing 17 km
- Changbaili 17 km
- Quanlin Linchang 17 km
- Gongqing Jingyingsuo 17 km
- Tangwanghe 18 km
- Eryang Jingyingsuo 18 km
- Jinlin Linchang 19 km
- Qingshancun 19 km
- Shisangongli 19 km
- Wuying 20 km
- Zhongxin Miaopu 20 km
- Wuxing 20 km
- Xinglongcun 20 km