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Northern Lights in Colorado, United States

In Colorado the aurora is visible from about Kp 6.7, first near Fort Collins. Steamboat Springs has the darkest skies among the larger places.

Next chance in Colorado

Photos only · Fort Collins · Reliability: low (rough trend)

Place	Kp needed	Kp for photos	Look towards	Light pollution	Population
Fort Collins	6.7	5	N	Bright suburban sky	170,924
Sterling	6.7	5	N	Bright suburban sky	14,104
Thornton	7	5.3	N	City sky	133,451
Westminster	7	5.3	N	City sky	116,317
Greeley	7	5.3	N	Bright suburban sky	108,795
Boulder	7	5.3	N	City sky	106,803
Longmont	7	5.3	N	City sky	92,088
Loveland	7	5.3	N	Bright suburban sky	75,182
Broomfield	7	5.3	N	City sky	65,065
Northglenn	7	5.3	N	City sky	39,197
Brighton	7	5.3	N	Bright suburban sky	37,585
Windsor	7	5.3	N	Suburban sky	32,716
Lafayette	7	5.3	N	Bright suburban sky	27,729
Steamboat Springs	7	5.3	NNE	Rural to suburban	12,435
Fort Morgan	7	5.3	N	Bright suburban sky	11,319
Denver	7.3	5.7	N	City sky	729,019
Aurora	7.3	5.7	N	City sky	359,407
Lakewood	7.3	5.7	N	City sky	152,597
Arvada	7.3	5.7	N	City sky	115,368
Centennial	7.3	5.7	N	City sky	109,741
Highlands Ranch	7.3	5.7	N	Bright suburban sky	96,713
Castle Rock	7.3	5.7	N	Bright suburban sky	55,591
Commerce City	7.3	5.7	N	City sky	53,696
Parker	7.3	5.7	N	Bright suburban sky	49,550
Littleton	7.3	5.7	N	City sky	46,368
Dakota Ridge	7.3	5.7	N	Suburban sky	33,892
Englewood	7.3	5.7	N	City sky	33,082
Ken Caryl	7.3	5.7	N	Suburban sky	32,438
Wheat Ridge	7.3	5.7	N	City sky	31,192
Golden	7.3	5.7	N	Bright suburban sky	20,330
Colorado Springs	7.7	6	N	City sky	456,568
Grand Junction	7.7	6	NNE	City sky	60,358
Security-Widefield	7.7	6	N	Suburban sky	32,882
Fountain	7.7	6	N	Suburban sky	27,767
Pueblo	8	6.3	N	Bright suburban sky	109,412
Pueblo West	8	6.3	N	Rural to suburban	29,637
Montrose	8	6.3	N	Bright suburban sky	19,062
Durango	8.7	7	N	Bright suburban sky	18,006

Best months in Colorado

Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.

September has been the best month (1% of nights), followed by May (0.9%).

All years Near solar maximum Near solar minimum

Kp 0–2 Quiet Only under the auroral oval: northern Norway, Swedish and Finnish Lapland, Iceland, Alaska, northern Canada.
Kp 3 Unsettled Bright in the Arctic; low on the horizon in central Scandinavia and southern Iceland.
Kp 4 Active Overhead in the Arctic; low in the north from southern Norway, Sweden, Finland and northern Scotland.
Kp 5 Minor storm (G1) camera in Fort Collins Scotland, southern Scandinavia, the Baltic states, the northern US states and southern Canada.
Kp 6 Moderate storm (G2) Northern England, Denmark, northern Germany and Poland, the US Midwest — often clearer in photos than to the eye.
Kp 7 Strong storm (G3) eye in Fort Collins Most of the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czechia; red glow in photos from France and the northern Alps.
Kp 8 Severe storm (G4) Central Europe to the eye; red sky in photos from northern Italy, Spain, the Balkans and Turkey's Black Sea coast.
Kp 9 Extreme storm (G5) Seen across Europe and the US; in photos as far south as the Mediterranean, Turkey and North Africa (May 2024).

The town pages in this region also cover 916 villages and districts nearby.