Sigulda Municipality, LatviaMagnetic latitude 53.9°Population 14,757100 m above sea level
Northern lights in Sigulda
Sigulda needs an active night: from about Kp 4.3 the aurora appears low over the north horizon, and it rises higher as activity grows. Since 1995 storms of Kp 4.7 or more reached this place during darkness on 961 nights.
Right now
It is still light here. Darkness starts at 19:33.
Magnetometer at Tartu (155 km away): low magnetic activity.
Updates every minute while this page is open. Ground data: FMI MIRACLE R-index (CC BY 4.0).
Tonight in one minute
Yes — good chance tonight
- Solar activity Strong enough: Kp 4.7 expected, 4.3 needed here.
- Sky Mostly clear (8% cloud).
- Darkness Dark from 19:33 to 06:38.
What to do: Go somewhere dark around 03:00, give your eyes 15 minutes to adjust and look north, low over the horizon.
Monday 19 October — Good chance · Kp 4.7 · best around 04:30 · Forecast cloud: 8%. · 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 13:14 local time
Excellent chance
Best around 03:00. Forecast max Kp 4.7 (this place needs 4.3), average cloud 8%.
- Dark enough
- 19:33 – 06:38
- Sunset
- 18:10 · sunrise 08:02
- Moon
- 48% · ↑ 16:14 · ↓ 22:41
- Kp neededKp index: a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity. The higher it is, the further from the poles the aurora reaches.
- Kp 4.3
- Kp for photos
- In photos: from Kp 2.7 (a red glow low in the north).
- Look towards
- north (0°)
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, 19 | Sun, 22 | Mon, 01 | Mon, 04 | Mon, 19 | Mon, 22 | Tue, 01 | Tue, 04 | Tue, 19 | Tue, 22 | Wed, 01 | Wed, 04 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Mid cloud | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 31% | 43% | 46% | 37% |
| High cloud | 35% | 42% | 14% | 0% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 4% | 11% | 12% |
| Temperature | 6 °C | 3 °C | 2 °C | 2 °C | 5 °C | 3 °C | 3 °C | 2 °C | 8 °C | 6 °C | 6 °C | 6 °C |
| Feels like | 4 °C | 1 °C | 0 °C | -1 °C | 3 °C | 1 °C | 0 °C | 0 °C | 6 °C | 4 °C | 4 °C | 4 °C |
| Wind | 3 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 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
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What you would see from Sigulda
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 | 2° | 7° | 956 km |
| 3 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 5° | 12° | 734 km |
| 4 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 9° | 19° | 512 km |
| 5 | Visible to the north | 19° | 33° | 289 km |
| 6 | Visible to the north | 57° | 71° | 67 km |
| 7 | Overhead and all around | – | – | – |
| 8 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
| 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 Sigulda Bright in the Arctic; low on the horizon in central Scandinavia and southern Iceland.
- Kp 4 Active eye in Sigulda Overhead in the Arctic; low in the north from southern Norway, Sweden, Finland and northern Scotland.
- Kp 5 Minor storm (G1) next 24 h 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 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 horizon towards the north 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 Sigulda
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
September has been the best month (6% of nights), followed by April (3%).
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 6% | 49% | 8.4 h | 9° / 17°C |
| October | 3% | 33% | 10.8 h | 3° / 10°C |
| November | 0.8% | 12% | 12.8 h | 0° / 3°C |
| December | 1% | 8% | 13.6 h | -5° / -1°C |
| January | 0.2% | 7% | 13.3 h | -8° / -4°C |
| February | 0.7% | 9% | 11.4 h | -9° / -3°C |
| March | 2% | 26% | 9.3 h | -5° / 3°C |
| April | 3% | 53% | 6.3 h | 1° / 10°C |
Darkness through the year
- No full darkness (Sun 12° below the horizon) from 23 May to 21 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 Sigulda since 1995
Nights when Kp reached 4.7 or more while it was dark here.
Most recent strong nights
- 10 October 2026 · Kp 7.3
- 4 October 2026 · Kp 5.7
- 18 August 2026 · Kp 5.3
- 5 June 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 15 May 2026 · Kp 6.0
- 4 May 2026 · Kp 6.0
- 20 April 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 3 April 2026 · Kp 5.7
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Riga International Airport (RIX) · 60 km
- Typical low / high in September
- 9° / 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
- Winter tyres are mandatory 1 Dec – 1 Mar for vehicles up to 3.5 t, and since 1 Oct 2024 they must carry the 3PMSF (mountain-snowflake) symbol (M+S only no longer qualifies); studded tyres allowed 1 Oct – 1 May. Road conditions: Latvian State Roads (Latvijas Valsts ceļi) driving-conditions map. Road conditions
- Access to land
- Latvia has no Nordic-style right to roam: private land may be off-limits without the owner's consent, but state forests managed by LVM (outside protected areas) are open to the public, including overnight stays; nature reserves and strict zones of protected areas are restricted.
- Weather service
- Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LVĢMC)
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Sigulda?
Sigulda needs an active night: from about Kp 4.3 the aurora appears low over the north horizon, and it rises higher as activity grows.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Sigulda?
Face north (about 0° from true north). At Kp 4.3 the lower edge of the aurora sits roughly 19° above the horizon; stronger activity lifts it higher and further across the sky.
What is the best month to see the aurora in Sigulda?
Over 2005–2025, September gave the best odds in Sigulda (6% of nights dark, active enough and mostly clear), followed by April (3%).
When is the aurora season in Sigulda?
From 23 May to 21 July the sky in Sigulda never gets dark enough. Outside that period the aurora can be seen whenever activity and clouds allow.
Is there much light pollution in Sigulda?
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 east.
When was the aurora last possible in Sigulda?
Activity last reached storm level (Kp 5 or more) during darkness in Sigulda on 10 October 2026 (Kp 7.3) — 961 such nights since 1995. Here the aurora also appears on many quieter nights.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Sigulda share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- Sigulda 1 km
- Kalnabeites 2 km
- Peltes 2 km
- Krimulda 2 km
- Ķipari 2 km
- Matiņi 2 km
- Dūnupe 3 km
- Turaida 4 km
- Siguldas pagasts 4 km
- Vējupīte 4 km
- Stīveri 6 km
- Nurmiži 7 km
- Jūdaži 7 km
- Krimuldas pagasts 8 km
- Sunīši 9 km
- Eikaži 9 km
- Ragana 10 km
- Allaži 10 km
- Kārtūži 11 km
- Inciems 12 km
- Allažu pagasts 12 km
- Lode 14 km
- Bukas 14 km
- Allažmuiža 14 km
- Eglaine 15 km
- Akenstaka 15 km
- Mores pagasts 15 km
- Vibroka 16 km
- Vanagi 16 km
- More 16 km
- Mālpils 17 km
- Vecpils 18 km
- Upmalas 18 km
- Knīderi 19 km
- Lēdurgas pagasts 19 km
- Mālpils novads 19 km
- Strautiņi 20 km
- Lēdurga 20 km
- Juglas 20 km
- Vite 22 km