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G1Peak 26 December 1989 at 18:00 UTC

Northern Lights on 26 December 1989 (Kp 5): Where They Were Visible

Kp reached 5. At that level the edge of the auroral oval reaches about 56.5° magnetic latitude, so the aurora could be seen low on the horizon down to roughly 52.0°. Activity stayed at storm level (Kp 5 or more) for 6 hours.

03579 G1 G3 Mon 25 Dec 18:00 UTC · Kp 2.67 Mon 25 Dec 21:00 UTC · Kp 3.67 Tue 26 Dec 00:00 UTC · Kp 3.00 Tue 26 Dec 03:00 UTC · Kp 2.00 Tue 26 Dec 06:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Tue 26 Dec 09:00 UTC · Kp 3.33 Tue 26 Dec 12:00 UTC · Kp 3.33 Tue 26 Dec 15:00 UTC · Kp 3.33 Tue 26 Dec 18:00 UTC · Kp 5.00 Tue 26 Dec 21:00 UTC · Kp 4.67 Wed 27 Dec 00:00 UTC · Kp 4.00 Wed 27 Dec 03:00 UTC · Kp 4.33 Wed 27 Dec 06:00 UTC · Kp 3.00 Wed 27 Dec 09:00 UTC · Kp 3.33 Wed 27 Dec 12:00 UTC · Kp 4.00 Wed 27 Dec 15:00 UTC · Kp 4.33 Wed 27 Dec 18:00 UTC · Kp 4.33 Wed 27 Dec 21:00 UTC · Kp 3.33 Tue 26 DecWed 27 Dec
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

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

CountryPlacesExamplesFurthest from the pole
Canada 244 Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton Le Sud-Ouest
Sweden 145 Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Uppsala Oxie
Finland 123 Helsinki, Espoon keskus, Tampere urban area, Vantaa Raseborg
United Kingdom 103 Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee Ashington
United States 97 Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Fargo, Duluth Saint Paul
Norway 77 Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger Mandal
Denmark 75 Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg, Frederiksberg Esbjerg
Latvia 39 Riga, Daugavpils, Liepāja, Jelgava Daugavpils
Estonia 21 Tallinn, Tartu, Narva, Pärnu Võru
Iceland 18 Reykjavík, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær Vík í Mýrdal
Lithuania 18 Klaipeda City Municipality, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Mažeikiai Utena
Greenland 6 Nuuk, Sisimiut, Ilulissat, Qaqortoq Qaqortoq
Faroe Islands 4 Tórshavn, Klaksvík, Fuglafjørður, Miðvágur Tórshavn
Ireland 1 Letterkenny Letterkenny
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

1,943 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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