Rogaland, NorwayMagnetic latitude 56.0°Population 85,3868 m above sea level
Northern lights in Sandnes
Sandnes needs an active night: from about Kp 3.3 the aurora appears low over the north horizon, and it rises higher as activity grows. Since 1995 that level (Kp 4.7) was reached during darkness here on 900 nights.
Right now
Activity is high enough for a camera right now: point your phone north, low over the horizon.
Latest measured half-hour activity worldwide: Hp30 2.7.
Updates every minute while this page is open. Ground data: GFZ Potsdam Hp30 index (CC BY 4.0).
Tonight in one minute
Maybe — worth a look
- Solar activity Strong enough: Kp 4 expected, 3.3 needed here.
- Sky Partly cloudy (41% cloud) — look for gaps.
- Darkness Dark from 19:55 to 06:50.
What to do: Go somewhere dark around 04:00, give your eyes 15 minutes to adjust and look north, low over the horizon.
- Detailed forecast Fri 16 4 Good chance · Kp 4
- Sat 17 2 Photos only · Kp 2
- Sun 18 1.7 Photos only · Kp 1.7
- 27-day trend Mon 19 2 Photos only · Kp 2
- Tue 20 3 Photos only · Kp 3
- Wed 21 4 Possible · Kp 4
- Thu 22 4 Possible · Kp 4
- Fri 23 4 Possible · Kp 4
- Sat 24 3 Unlikely · Kp 3
- Sun 25 2 Unlikely · Kp 2
- Mon 26 2 Unlikely · Kp 2
- Tue 27 2 Unlikely · Kp 2
- Wed 28 2 Unlikely · Kp 2
- Thu 29 2 Unlikely · Kp 2
- Fri 30 5 Possible · Kp 5
- Sat 31 5 Possible · Kp 5
- Sun 1 5 Possible · Kp 5
- Mon 2 3 Unlikely · Kp 3
- Tue 3 2 Unlikely · Kp 2
- Wed 4 2 Unlikely · Kp 2
- Thu 5 3 Unlikely · Kp 3
- Fri 6 3 Unlikely · Kp 3
- Sat 7 3 Unlikely · Kp 3
Saturday 17 October — Good chance · Kp 4 · best around 03:30 · Forecast cloud: 45%. · 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 00:56 local time
Excellent chance
Best around 04:00. Forecast max Kp 4.0 (this place needs 3.3), average cloud 41%.
- Dark enough
- 19:55 – 06:50
- Sunset
- 18:25 · sunrise 08:20
- Moon
- 34% · ↑ 16:32 · ↓ 20:05
- Kp neededKp index: a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity. The higher it is, the further from the poles the aurora reaches.
- Kp 3.3
- Kp for photos
- In photos: from Kp 1.7 (a red glow low in the north).
- Look towards
- north (356°)
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, 00 | Sat, 03 | Sat, 06 | Sat, 21 | Sun, 00 | Sun, 03 | Sun, 06 | Sun, 21 | Mon, 00 | Mon, 03 | Mon, 06 | Mon, 21 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 12% | 5% | 19% | 0% | 0% | 92% | 93% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Mid cloud | 2% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| High cloud | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 30% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Temperature | 8 °C | 8 °C | 7 °C | 7 °C | 5 °C | 3 °C | 3 °C | 5 °C | 3 °C | 3 °C | 4 °C | 5 °C |
| Feels like | 6 °C | 4 °C | 2 °C | 5 °C | 3 °C | 1 °C | 0 °C | 2 °C | 0 °C | 0 °C | 1 °C | 2 °C |
| Wind | 2 m/s | 5 m/s | 5 m/s | 2 m/s | 1 m/s | 1 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s |
| Visibility | 26 km | 41 km | 44 km | 44 km | 27 km | 0.2 km | 0.2 km | 8.3 km | 41 km | 35 km | 35 km | 27 km |
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 Sandnes
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 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 5° | 12° | 723 km |
| 3 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 10° | 19° | 500 km |
| 4 | Visible to the north | 19° | 34° | 278 km |
| 5 | Visible to the north | 62° | 74° | 56 km |
| 6 | Overhead and all around | – | – | – |
| 7 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
| 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 camera in Sandnes Only under the auroral oval: northern Norway, Swedish and Finnish Lapland, Iceland, Alaska, northern Canada.
- Kp 3 Unsettled eye in Sandnes 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) 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
City sky. City lights hide all but the brightest displays. Plan to leave the urban area.
A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the east-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 4° above the horizon towards the north. That hides low aurora: here you need about Kp 3.3 instead of Kp 3.3. A hilltop, shore or open field with a clear view to the north helps.
From elevation data (AWS Terrain Tiles) along seven lines of sight up to 30 km.
Best months to see the aurora in Sandnes
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
October has been the best month (7% of nights), followed by September (5%).
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 5% | 30% | 7.9 h | 8° / 13°C |
| October | 7% | 28% | 10.8 h | 4° / 8°C |
| November | 2% | 16% | 12.8 h | 0° / 3°C |
| December | 2% | 11% | 14.0 h | -3° / 0°C |
| January | 2% | 12% | 13.3 h | -5° / -1°C |
| February | 4% | 20% | 11.5 h | -6° / -1°C |
| March | 4% | 15% | 9.1 h | -4° / 1°C |
| April | 4% | 21% | 5.8 h | -1° / 5°C |
Darkness through the year
- No full darkness (Sun 12° below the horizon) from 14 May to 29 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 Sandnes since 1995
Nights when Kp reached 4.7 or more while it was dark here.
Most recent strong nights
- 10 October 2026 · Kp 7.0
- 4 October 2026 · Kp 5.7
- 15 May 2026 · Kp 6.0
- 3 April 2026 · Kp 5.7
- 2 April 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 22 March 2026 · Kp 6.7
- 20 March 2026 · Kp 7.0
- 13 March 2026 · Kp 6.0
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Stavanger Airport, Sola (SVG) · 6 km
- Typical low / high in October
- 4° / 8°C
- What to wear
- Cool nights: layers, a windproof jacket, hat and gloves for standing still outside. Full clothing guide
- Emergency number
- 112 (police), 113 (ambulance), 110 (fire)
- Winter driving
- Winter tyres need at least 3 mm of tread from 1 November to the first Sunday after Easter Monday (16 October to 30 April in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark). Studded tyres are allowed in the same periods and outside them when conditions require. Road conditions are on Statens vegvesen's traffic information service (vegvesen.no/trafikk). Road conditions
- Access to land
- Allemannsretten gives free access to uncultivated land (utmark) such as forest, mountain and shoreline; cultivated land and yards (innmark) need the owner's consent. Overnight stays, including tents, motorhomes and vans, must be more than 150 m from an inhabited house or cabin, and you may stay at most two nights in one spot without permission.
- Official space-weather service
- Norwegian Centre for Space Weather (NOSWE), Tromsø Geophysical Observatory, UiT
- Weather service
- Norwegian Meteorological Institute (Yr)
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Sandnes?
Sandnes needs an active night: from about Kp 3.3 the aurora appears low over the north horizon, and it rises higher as activity grows.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Sandnes?
Face north (about 356° from true north). At Kp 3.3 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 Sandnes?
Over 2005–2025, October gave the best odds in Sandnes (7% of nights dark, active enough and mostly clear), followed by September (5%).
When is the aurora season in Sandnes?
From 14 May to 29 July the sky in Sandnes never gets dark enough. Outside that period the aurora can be seen whenever activity and clouds allow.
Is there much light pollution in Sandnes?
City lights hide all but the brightest displays. Plan to leave the urban area. A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the east-north-east.
When was the aurora last possible in Sandnes?
Activity last reached storm level (Kp 5 or more) during darkness in Sandnes on 10 October 2026 (Kp 7.0) — 900 such nights since 1995. Here the aurora also appears on many quieter nights.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Sandnes share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- Stangaland 2 km
- Vatne 3 km
- Soma 3 km
- Ganddal 3 km
- Assheim 3 km
- Stranden 4 km
- Stokka 4 km
- Lunde 4 km
- Heigre 5 km
- Leitet 5 km
- Sviland 6 km
- Kylles 6 km
- Haga 6 km
- Dale 6 km
- Litla Vatne 7 km
- Bråstein 7 km
- Sporaland 9 km
- Figgjo 9 km
- Auklend 11 km