AuroraMeteo
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G4Peak 20 October 1989 at 18:00 UTC

Northern Lights on 20 October 1989 (Kp 8.3): Where They Were Visible

Kp reached 8.3. At that level the edge of the auroral oval reaches about 49.8° magnetic latitude, so the aurora could be seen low on the horizon down to roughly 45.3°. Activity stayed at storm level (Kp 5 or more) for 57 hours.

03579 G1 G3 Thu 19 Oct 09:00 UTC · Kp 4.00 Thu 19 Oct 12:00 UTC · Kp 3.67 Thu 19 Oct 15:00 UTC · Kp 1.67 Thu 19 Oct 18:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Thu 19 Oct 21:00 UTC · Kp 1.33 Fri 20 Oct 00:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Fri 20 Oct 03:00 UTC · Kp 3.00 Fri 20 Oct 06:00 UTC · Kp 4.33 Fri 20 Oct 09:00 UTC · Kp 6.67 Fri 20 Oct 12:00 UTC · Kp 7.67 Fri 20 Oct 15:00 UTC · Kp 7.67 Fri 20 Oct 18:00 UTC · Kp 8.33 Fri 20 Oct 21:00 UTC · Kp 7.00 Sat 21 Oct 00:00 UTC · Kp 6.33 Sat 21 Oct 03:00 UTC · Kp 6.67 Sat 21 Oct 06:00 UTC · Kp 7.00 Sat 21 Oct 09:00 UTC · Kp 8.33 Sat 21 Oct 12:00 UTC · Kp 7.67 Sat 21 Oct 15:00 UTC · Kp 6.67 Sat 21 Oct 18:00 UTC · Kp 8.00 Sat 21 Oct 21:00 UTC · Kp 6.33 Sun 22 Oct 00:00 UTC · Kp 6.33 Sun 22 Oct 03:00 UTC · Kp 5.67 Sun 22 Oct 06:00 UTC · Kp 4.33 Sun 22 Oct 09:00 UTC · Kp 4.67 Sun 22 Oct 12:00 UTC · Kp 4.67 Sun 22 Oct 15:00 UTC · Kp 5.33 Sun 22 Oct 18:00 UTC · Kp 5.33 Sun 22 Oct 21:00 UTC · Kp 4.00 Mon 23 Oct 00:00 UTC · Kp 3.00 Mon 23 Oct 03:00 UTC · Kp 5.67 Mon 23 Oct 06:00 UTC · Kp 5.00 Mon 23 Oct 09:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Mon 23 Oct 12:00 UTC · Kp 2.00 Mon 23 Oct 15:00 UTC · Kp 2.00 Mon 23 Oct 18:00 UTC · Kp 2.67 Fri 20 OctSat 21 OctSun 22 OctMon 23 Oct
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

4,701 towns on our list had enough activity while it was dark there. Cloud cover is not included.

CountryPlacesExamplesFurthest from the pole
United States 1,836 New York City, Brooklyn, Chicago, Queens Virginia Beach
United Kingdom 710 London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester Falmouth
Germany 432 Berlin, Hamburg, Köln, Frankfurt Worms
Canada 407 Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa Eastern Passage
Poland 308 Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Łódź Nowy Targ
Sweden 148 Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Uppsala Trelleborg
Netherlands 147 Rotterdam, Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht Maastricht
Finland 123 Helsinki, Espoon keskus, Tampere urban area, Vantaa Raseborg
Belgium 102 Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi Arlon
Denmark 94 Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense, Aalborg Nykøbing Falster
Norway 77 Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger Mandal
Ireland 55 Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway Cork
Czechia 43 Prague, Ostrava, Pilsen, Liberec Olomouc
Latvia 39 Riga, Daugavpils, Liepāja, Jelgava Daugavpils
Lithuania 31 Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda City Municipality, Šiauliai Druskininkai
New Zealand 30 Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin, Lower Hutt Whanganui
France 28 Lille, Amiens, Roubaix, Tourcoing Charleville
Australia 24 Melbourne, Adelaide, Geelong, Hobart Tuggeranong
Estonia 21 Tallinn, Tartu, Narva, Pärnu Võru
Iceland 18 Reykjavík, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær Vík í Mýrdal
China 7 Daxing’anling, Jiagedaqi District, Genhe, Oroqen Zizhiqi Jiagedaqi District
Greenland 6 Nuuk, Sisimiut, Ilulissat, Qaqortoq Qaqortoq
Faroe Islands 4 Tórshavn, Klaksvík, Fuglafjørður, Miðvágur Tórshavn
Kazakhstan 4 Astana, Kostanay, Petropavl, Kokshetau Astana
Luxembourg 4 Diekirch, Grevenmacher, Wiltz, Mersch Grevenmacher
Ukraine 2 Kyiv, Kharkiv Kharkiv
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

1,967 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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