AuroraMeteo
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G1Peak 5 September 1989 at 06:00 UTC

Northern Lights on 5 September 1989 (Kp 5.3): Where They Were Visible

Kp reached 5.3. At that level the edge of the auroral oval reaches about 55.8° magnetic latitude, so the aurora could be seen low on the horizon down to roughly 51.3°. Activity stayed at storm level (Kp 5 or more) for 6 hours.

03579 G1 G3 Mon 4 Sept 00:00 UTC · Kp 5.00 Mon 4 Sept 03:00 UTC · Kp 6.00 Mon 4 Sept 06:00 UTC · Kp 4.67 Mon 4 Sept 09:00 UTC · Kp 4.33 Mon 4 Sept 12:00 UTC · Kp 3.33 Mon 4 Sept 15:00 UTC · Kp 1.33 Mon 4 Sept 18:00 UTC · Kp 1.00 Mon 4 Sept 21:00 UTC · Kp 3.00 Tue 5 Sept 00:00 UTC · Kp 4.67 Tue 5 Sept 03:00 UTC · Kp 4.00 Tue 5 Sept 06:00 UTC · Kp 5.33 Tue 5 Sept 09:00 UTC · Kp 3.33 Tue 5 Sept 12:00 UTC · Kp 2.00 Tue 5 Sept 15:00 UTC · Kp 1.67 Tue 5 Sept 18:00 UTC · Kp 2.00 Tue 5 Sept 21:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Wed 6 Sept 00:00 UTC · Kp 2.00 Wed 6 Sept 03:00 UTC · Kp 2.67 Wed 6 Sept 06:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Mon 4 SeptTue 5 SeptWed 6 Sept
Kp 0–3 Kp 4 Kp 5–6 (G1–G2) Kp 7+ (G3+) Times in UTC; faded bars are forecasts.

Three-hourly Kp from GFZ, one day either side of the storm.

Where the aurora could be seen

1,389 towns on our list had enough activity while it was dark there. Cloud cover is not included.

CountryPlacesExamplesFurthest from the pole
United States 578 Seattle, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis Cedar Rapids
Canada 388 Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa LaSalle
Sweden 125 Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala, Linköping Halmstad
Finland 113 Helsinki, Espoon keskus, Tampere urban area, Vantaa Raseborg
Norway 68 Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger Mandal
Latvia 27 Riga, Jelgava, Jūrmala, Ventspils Jelgava
United Kingdom 24 Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, Perth St Andrews
Estonia 21 Tallinn, Tartu, Narva, Pärnu Võru
Iceland 18 Reykjavík, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær Vík í Mýrdal
New Zealand 9 Dunedin, Invercargill, Mosgiel, Wānaka Wānaka
Denmark 8 Aalborg, Hjørring, Nørresundby, Frederikshavn Skive
Greenland 6 Nuuk, Sisimiut, Ilulissat, Qaqortoq Qaqortoq
Faroe Islands 4 Tórshavn, Klaksvík, Fuglafjørður, Miðvágur Tórshavn
Based on each place's Kp threshold (terrain included) and the Sun's position during each 3-hour Kp block.

Only in photos

1,619 more towns could have caught a faint red or green glow low on the horizon with a phone or camera.

Whether the aurora was actually seen also depended on the weather. Use this as a guide to where it was possible.

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