Capital Region of Denmark, DenmarkMagnetic latitude 52.4°Population 15,00035 m above sea level
Northern lights in Gammel Virum
Gammel Virum needs an active night: from about Kp 5 the aurora appears low over the north horizon, and it rises higher as activity grows. Since 1995 that level (Kp 5) was reached during darkness here on 687 nights.
Right now
Quiet right now (Kp 0.0).
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
Yes — good chance tonight
- Solar activity Strong enough: Kp 5 expected, 5 needed here.
- Sky Mostly clear (20% cloud).
- Darkness Dark from 19:20 to 06:30.
What to do: Go somewhere dark around 01:00, give your eyes 15 minutes to adjust and look north, low over the horizon.
Tuesday 20 October — Good chance · Kp 5 · best around 00:30 · Forecast cloud: 20%. · 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 23:08 local time
Good chance
Best around 01:00. Forecast max Kp 5.0 (this place needs 5), average cloud 20%.
- Dark enough
- 19:20 – 06:30
- Sunset
- 18:00 · sunrise 07:51
- Moon
- 62% · ↑ 16:19 · ↓ 00:05
- Kp neededKp index: a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity. The higher it is, the further from the poles the aurora reaches.
- Kp 5
- Kp for photos
- In photos: from Kp 3.3 (a red glow low in the north).
- Look towards
- north (358°)
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, 23 | Tue, 02 | Tue, 05 | Tue, 20 | Tue, 23 | Wed, 02 | Wed, 05 | Wed, 20 | Wed, 23 | Thu, 02 | Thu, 05 | Thu, 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 0% | 0% | 32% | 100% | 88% | 73% | 63% | 68% | 77% | 78% | 54% | 12% |
| Mid cloud | 0% | 0% | 20% | 62% | 47% | 29% | 8% | 100% | 92% | 77% | 59% | 0% |
| High cloud | 17% | 39% | 43% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 61% | 62% | 60% | 30% | 0% |
| Temperature | 5 °C | 5 °C | 6 °C | 11 °C | 11 °C | 11 °C | 10 °C | 11 °C | 11 °C | 11 °C | 11 °C | 10 °C |
| Feels like | 3 °C | 3 °C | 3 °C | 11 °C | 11 °C | 11 °C | 10 °C | 11 °C | 11 °C | 11 °C | 11 °C | 8 °C |
| Wind | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 4 m/s | 5 m/s | 5 m/s | 4 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 2 m/s | 3 m/s | 5 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 Gammel Virum
The aurora only shows through clear skies, so the weather matters as much as the Kp index. Here is the general forecast for Gammel Virum: temperature, wind and the chance of rain for the coming days.
Planning further ahead? See the hour-by-hour weather forecast for Gammel Virum on Atlas of Seasons.
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What you would see from Gammel Virum
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 | 0° | 5° | 1,123 km |
| 3 | Below the horizon | 3° | 8° | 901 km |
| 4 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 6° | 13° | 678 km |
| 5 | Visible to the north | 11° | 21° | 456 km |
| 6 | Visible to the north | 23° | 39° | 234 km |
| 7 | Visible to the north | 84° | 87° | 11 km |
| 8 | Overhead and all around | – | – | – |
| 9 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
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 Gammel Virum 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) next 24 h eye in Gammel Virum 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 20 km to the west-north-west. 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 is open (terrain below 0.3°), 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 Gammel Virum
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
September has been the best month (4% of nights), followed by March (2%).
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 4% | 45% | 8.4 h | 13° / 17°C |
| October | 2% | 29% | 10.8 h | 9° / 13°C |
| November | 0.6% | 14% | 12.6 h | 6° / 8°C |
| December | 0.3% | 11% | 13.6 h | 3° / 5°C |
| January | 0.8% | 14% | 13.1 h | 1° / 3°C |
| February | 1% | 18% | 11.4 h | 0° / 3°C |
| March | 2% | 33% | 9.4 h | 1° / 5°C |
| April | 2% | 52% | 6.5 h | 5° / 10°C |
Darkness through the year
- No full darkness (Sun 12° below the horizon) from 29 May to 15 July — 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.
Aurora nights in Gammel Virum since 1995
Nights when Kp reached 5 or more while it was dark here.
Most recent strong nights
- 10 October 2026 · Kp 7.0
- 4 October 2026 · Kp 5.7
- 5 June 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 15 May 2026 · Kp 6.0
- 20 April 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 3 April 2026 · Kp 5.7
- 2 April 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 22 March 2026 · Kp 6.7
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Copenhagen Kastrup Airport (CPH) · 22 km
- Typical low / high in September
- 13° / 17°C
- What to wear
- Cool nights: layers, a windproof jacket, hat and gloves for standing still outside. Full clothing guide
- Emergency number
- 112
- Winter driving
- There is no general winter tyre requirement, but since 1 July 2025 the Traffic Act requires tyres suited to current and expected road conditions, with fines of DKK 1,000 per tyre. Studded tyres are allowed from 1 November to 15 April. Road conditions are on the Danish Road Directorate's Trafikinfo. Road conditions
- Access to land
- Public forests are open 24 hours a day, but private forests and private uncultivated land may only be used on foot or by bike on suitable roads and paths from 6:00 until sunset, and you must stay more than 150 m from buildings. Beaches are open for walking and short stays, with no tents, and you must keep 50 m from dwellings on private beaches.
- Weather service
- DMI (Danish Meteorological Institute)
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Gammel Virum?
Gammel Virum needs an active night: from about Kp 5 the aurora appears low over the north horizon, and it rises higher as activity grows.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Gammel Virum?
Face north (about 358° from true north). At Kp 5 the lower edge of the aurora sits roughly 11° above the horizon; stronger activity lifts it higher and further across the sky.
What is the best month to see the aurora in Gammel Virum?
Over 2005–2025, September gave the best odds in Gammel Virum (4% of nights dark, active enough and mostly clear), followed by March (2%).
When is the aurora season in Gammel Virum?
From 29 May to 15 July the sky in Gammel Virum never gets dark enough. Outside that period the aurora can be seen whenever activity and clouds allow.
Is there much light pollution in Gammel Virum?
Noticeable sky glow. Bright displays are visible, but driving out of town makes a clear difference. A noticeably darker area starts about 20 km to the west-north-west.
When was the aurora last possible in Gammel Virum?
The most recent night in our data when activity reached the level Gammel Virum needs, during darkness, was 10 October 2026 (Kp 7.0). It has happened on 687 nights since 1995.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Gammel Virum share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- Sorgenfri 1 km
- Brede 1 km
- Ørholm 2 km
- Søllerød 3 km
- Værebroparken 4 km
- Rudersdal Kommune 4 km