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G2Peak 15 September 1989 at 21:00 UTC

Northern Lights on 15 September 1989 (Kp 6.3): Where They Were Visible

Kp reached 6.3. At that level the edge of the auroral oval reaches about 53.8° magnetic latitude, so the aurora could be seen low on the horizon down to roughly 49.3°. Activity stayed at storm level (Kp 5 or more) for 18 hours.

03579 G1 G3 Thu 14 Sept 12:00 UTC · Kp 1.33 Thu 14 Sept 15:00 UTC · Kp 0.33 Thu 14 Sept 18:00 UTC · Kp 0.33 Thu 14 Sept 21:00 UTC · Kp 0.33 Fri 15 Sept 00:00 UTC · Kp 2.67 Fri 15 Sept 03:00 UTC · Kp 4.67 Fri 15 Sept 06:00 UTC · Kp 3.00 Fri 15 Sept 09:00 UTC · Kp 3.00 Fri 15 Sept 12:00 UTC · Kp 4.67 Fri 15 Sept 15:00 UTC · Kp 4.67 Fri 15 Sept 18:00 UTC · Kp 6.00 Fri 15 Sept 21:00 UTC · Kp 6.33 Sat 16 Sept 00:00 UTC · Kp 5.33 Sat 16 Sept 03:00 UTC · Kp 5.67 Sat 16 Sept 06:00 UTC · Kp 4.00 Sat 16 Sept 09:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Sat 16 Sept 12:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Sat 16 Sept 15:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Sat 16 Sept 18:00 UTC · Kp 2.00 Sat 16 Sept 21:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Sun 17 Sept 00:00 UTC · Kp 1.67 Sun 17 Sept 03:00 UTC · Kp 0.67 Fri 15 SeptSat 16 SeptSun 17 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

2,188 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
United Kingdom 414 Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds Nottingham
Canada 390 Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa St. John's
Sweden 148 Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Uppsala Trelleborg
Finland 123 Helsinki, Espoon keskus, Tampere urban area, Vantaa Raseborg
Denmark 94 Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense, Aalborg Nykøbing Falster
Poland 90 Gdańsk, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Białystok Bydgoszcz
Germany 84 Hamburg, Bremen, Kiel, Lübeck Bremen
Norway 77 Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger Mandal
Ireland 49 Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Tallaght Kilkenny
Latvia 39 Riga, Daugavpils, Liepāja, Jelgava Daugavpils
Lithuania 31 Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda City Municipality, Šiauliai Druskininkai
Estonia 21 Tallinn, Tartu, Narva, Pärnu Võru
Iceland 18 Reykjavík, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær Vík í Mýrdal
Australia 7 Hobart, Launceston, Devonport, Burnie Burnie
Netherlands 7 Groningen, Leeuwarden, Drachten, Sneek Drachten
Greenland 6 Nuuk, Sisimiut, Ilulissat, Qaqortoq Qaqortoq
Faroe Islands 4 Tórshavn, Klaksvík, Fuglafjørður, Miðvágur Tórshavn
New Zealand 4 Invercargill, Gore, Stewart Island/Rakiura (Oban), The Catlins (Owaka) Gore
Kazakhstan 3 Kostanay, Petropavl, Kokshetau Kostanay
Svalbard & Jan Mayen 1 Longyearbyen Longyearbyen
Based on each place's Kp threshold (terrain included) and the Sun's position during each 3-hour Kp block.

Only in photos

3,089 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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