Minnesota, United StatesMagnetic latitude 55.6°Population 2,053369 m above sea level
Northern lights in Aitkin
Aitkin needs an active night: from about Kp 3.3 the aurora appears low over the north horizon, and it rises higher as activity grows. Since 1995 storms of Kp 4.7 or more reached this place during darkness on 930 nights.
Right now
Quiet right now (Kp 1.3).
Latest measured half-hour activity worldwide: Hp30 2.
Updates every minute while this page is open. Ground data: GFZ Potsdam Hp30 index (CC BY 4.0).
Tonight in one minute
Only in photos, if at all
- Solar activity Enough for a camera: Kp 3 expected, 1.7 needed for photos, 3.3 for the eye.
- Sky Partly cloudy (73% cloud) — look for gaps.
- Darkness Dark from 19:23 to 06:36. A bright moon (76%) washes out faint displays.
What to do: Point a phone in night mode north (3–10 s exposure). A red or green glow often shows on the screen before you can see it.
Wednesday 21 October — Good chance · Kp 3.7 · best around 23:30 · Forecast cloud: 0%. · Reliability: medium
Each box is one night: the colour shows the chance, the number the expected Kp. Tap a night for details.
📅 Add these nights to your calendar — it updates itself (.ics)
How far ahead can the northern lights be forecast?
- Minutes to an hour: satellites 1.5 million km away measure the solar wind before it reaches Earth. This is the surest warning — the “Right now” box uses it.
- 1–3 days: when the Sun throws out a cloud of particles, it takes one to three days to arrive. NOAA's 3-hourly forecast covers these nights; the timing can still be off by a few hours.
- 4–27 days: the Sun turns once every 27 days, and regions that disturbed Earth's field last time often do it again. NOAA's 27-day outlook gives this rough trend — new eruptions are not in it yet.
Tonight
Updated 05:36 local time
Possible
Best around 06:00. Forecast max Kp 3.0 (this place needs 3.3), average cloud 73%.
- Dark enough
- 19:23 – 06:36
- Sunset
- 18:17 · sunrise 07:42
- Moon
- 76% · ↑ 16:18 · ↓ 02:18
- Kp neededKp index: a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity. The higher it is, the further from the poles the aurora reaches.
- Kp 3.3
- Kp for photos
- In photos: from Kp 1.7 (a red glow low in the north).
- Look towards
- north (4°)
Cloud layers and weather
Low cloud blocks the aurora completely. Thin high cloud often still lets a bright aurora shine through, so a sky with only high cloud is worth a look.
| Time | Wed, 05 | Wed, 20 | Wed, 23 | Thu, 02 | Thu, 05 | Thu, 20 | Thu, 23 | Fri, 02 | Fri, 05 | Fri, 20 | Fri, 23 | Sat, 02 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Mid cloud | 46% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 70% | 93% | 95% |
| High cloud | 3% | 13% | 78% | 94% | 33% | 5% | 28% | 33% | 10% | 38% | 62% | 64% |
| Temperature | 9 °C | 13 °C | 10 °C | 9 °C | 7 °C | 14 °C | 13 °C | 12 °C | 12 °C | 18 °C | 18 °C | 17 °C |
| Feels like | 7 °C | 13 °C | 10 °C | 8 °C | 6 °C | 14 °C | 13 °C | 12 °C | 12 °C | 18 °C | 18 °C | 17 °C |
| Wind | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s | 2 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 7 m/s | 8 m/s | 8 m/s |
Cloud layers and weather: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).
Score = activity (NOAA Kp and OVATION) × clear sky (MET Norway) × darkness × moonlight. Methodology
Weather in Aitkin
The aurora only shows through clear skies, so the weather matters as much as the Kp index. Here is the general forecast for Aitkin: temperature, wind and the chance of rain for the coming days.
Planning further ahead? See the hour-by-hour weather forecast for Aitkin on Atlas of Seasons.
Seeing it right now?
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Live webcams near Aitkin
Check the sky for yourself: public cameras within 300 km. They open on the camera owner's website.
- Gunflint Trail dark sky cam (Chik-Wauk) ↗ Open the live camera (opens in a new tab) All-sky
- Grand Marais harbor, Lake Superior ↗ Open the live camera (opens in a new tab) Scenic
These cameras belong to their owners — we only link to them. Most show little in daylight or under cloud, and some pause in summer.
Do you host guests in Aitkin? Give them a free aurora forecast page and a QR poster for your property. Create a guest page →
What you would see from Aitkin
Facing north. Bands show where the aurora sits at two activity levels.
| Kp | What you see | Lower edge | Ray tops | Distance to the aurora |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 4° | 11° | 767 km |
| 3 | Faint glow, mostly on camera | 8° | 17° | 545 km |
| 4 | Visible to the north | 16° | 30° | 322 km |
| 5 | Visible to the north | 46° | 63° | 100 km |
| 6 | Overhead and all around | – | – | – |
| 7 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
| 8 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
| 9 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
The Kp scale in plain words
Kp is a 0–9 score for how strongly the Earth's magnetic field is being shaken by the solar wind. The higher it goes, the further from the poles the northern lights reach. Kp 0–2 is a quiet night; Kp 5 and above is a geomagnetic storm.
- Kp 0–2 Quiet camera in Aitkin Only under the auroral oval: northern Norway, Swedish and Finnish Lapland, Iceland, Alaska, northern Canada.
- Kp 3 Unsettled next 24 h eye in Aitkin 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) 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) 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).
Light pollution
Bright suburban sky. Strong sky glow washes out faint aurora. Head out of town for anything but a bright display.
A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the east-north-east. Open in OpenStreetMap
Estimate from NASA VIIRS night-light data (sky-glow model within 50 km). Check access and private land before you go.
Hills and mountains
The horizon towards the north is open (terrain below 0.2°), so low aurora is not blocked.
From elevation data (AWS Terrain Tiles) along seven lines of sight up to 30 km.
Best months to see the aurora in Aitkin
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
September has been the best month (15% of nights), followed by March (15%).
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 15% | 67% | 9.1 h | 10° / 22°C |
| October | 11% | 51% | 10.9 h | 2° / 12°C |
| November | 8% | 37% | 12.0 h | -6° / 3°C |
| December | 6% | 37% | 12.9 h | -14° / -6°C |
| January | 9% | 56% | 12.4 h | -19° / -9°C |
| February | 14% | 66% | 11.4 h | -18° / -7°C |
| March | 15% | 58% | 9.9 h | -8° / 2°C |
| April | 8% | 54% | 7.9 h | -1° / 10°C |
Aurora nights in Aitkin since 1995
Nights when Kp reached 4.7 or more while it was dark here.
Most recent strong nights
- 4 October 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 3 October 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 7 September 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 3 July 2026 · Kp 7.0
- 24 June 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 18 April 2026 · Kp 5.3
- 17 April 2026 · Kp 5.3
- 2 April 2026 · Kp 5.3
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport (BRD) · 35 km
- Typical low / high in September
- 10° / 22°C
- What to wear
- Cool nights: layers, a windproof jacket, hat and gloves for standing still outside. Full clothing guide
- Emergency number
- 911
- Winter driving
- Tyre and chain rules are set at state level; check Alaska 511 (511.alaska.gov, Alaska DOT&PF) for Alaska roads, or the relevant state's 511 service elsewhere. Road conditions
- Access to land
- There is no general right to roam; trespass law is set by each state, so stay on public land (national parks, national forests, BLM land) or get the landowner's permission, and follow each park's night-time and parking rules.
- Official space-weather service
- NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (aurora dashboard)
- Weather service
- National Weather Service (NOAA)
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Aitkin?
Aitkin needs an active night: from about Kp 3.3 the aurora appears low over the north horizon, and it rises higher as activity grows.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Aitkin?
Face north (about 4° from true north). At Kp 3.3 the lower edge of the aurora sits roughly 16° above the horizon; stronger activity lifts it higher and further across the sky.
What is the best month to see the aurora in Aitkin?
Over 2005–2025, September gave the best odds in Aitkin (15% of nights dark, active enough and mostly clear), followed by March (15%).
When is the aurora season in Aitkin?
Aitkin gets dark enough for the aurora all year round, though the long winter nights give the most hours to watch.
Is there much light pollution in Aitkin?
Strong sky glow washes out faint aurora. Head out of town for anything but a bright display. A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the east-north-east.
When was the aurora last possible in Aitkin?
Activity last reached storm level (Kp 5 or more) during darkness in Aitkin on 4 October 2026 (Kp 5.0) — 930 such nights since 1995. Here the aurora also appears on many quieter nights.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Aitkin share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- City of Aitkin 0 km
- Welshons Company Mobile Home Park 0 km
- Township of Aitkin 4 km
- Pine Knoll 6 km
- Township of Spencer 7 km
- Township of Farm Island 9 km
- Township of Nordland 10 km
- Rossburg 10 km
- Hassman 11 km
- Township of Morrison 13 km
- Bennettville 15 km
- Glory 15 km
- Township of Kimberly 16 km
- Township of Glen 18 km
- Waldeck 18 km
- Township of Fleming 19 km
- Kimberly 19 km
- Township of Ross Lake 19 km
- Wealthwood 19 km
- Cutler 20 km
- Glen 20 km
- Township of Waukenabo 22 km
- Thor 23 km
- Aitkin County 24 km
- Township of Malmo 24 km
- Waukenabo 24 km
- Unorganized Territory of Davidson 26 km
- Township of Logan 26 km
- Palisade 26 km
- City of Palisade 26 km
- Township of Lee 27 km
- Township of Jevne 28 km
- Bain 30 km
- Unorganized Territory of Jewett 31 km
- McGregor 31 km
- City of McGregor 32 km
- East Lake 33 km
- Township of Workman 33 km
- Township of Spalding 36 km
- Township of McGregor 37 km