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G1Peak 9 December 1996 at 21:00 UTC

Northern Lights on 9 December 1996 (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 9 hours.

03579 G1 G3 Sun 8 Dec 21:00 UTC · Kp 1.00 Mon 9 Dec 00:00 UTC · Kp 0.00 Mon 9 Dec 03:00 UTC · Kp 0.00 Mon 9 Dec 06:00 UTC · Kp 0.33 Mon 9 Dec 09:00 UTC · Kp 0.67 Mon 9 Dec 12:00 UTC · Kp 1.00 Mon 9 Dec 15:00 UTC · Kp 2.00 Mon 9 Dec 18:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Mon 9 Dec 21:00 UTC · Kp 5.00 Tue 10 Dec 00:00 UTC · Kp 5.00 Tue 10 Dec 03:00 UTC · Kp 3.00 Tue 10 Dec 06:00 UTC · Kp 4.67 Tue 10 Dec 09:00 UTC · Kp 4.00 Tue 10 Dec 12:00 UTC · Kp 3.67 Tue 10 Dec 15:00 UTC · Kp 3.67 Tue 10 Dec 18:00 UTC · Kp 3.33 Tue 10 Dec 21:00 UTC · Kp 2.67 Wed 11 Dec 00:00 UTC · Kp 4.00 Wed 11 Dec 03:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Wed 11 Dec 06:00 UTC · Kp 3.00 Mon 9 DecTue 10 DecWed 11 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

1,359 towns on our list had enough activity while it was dark there. Cloud cover is not included.

CountryPlacesExamplesFurthest from the pole
United States 368 Seattle, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Saint Paul Yakima
Canada 359 Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa Hamilton
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
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
New Zealand 1 Stewart Island/Rakiura (Oban) Stewart Island/Rakiura (Oban)
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

1,761 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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