North Dakota, United StatesMagnetic latitude 56.4°Population 1,779487 m above sea level
Northern lights in Harvey
From Harvey the aurora is visible on most active nights — first low to the north, from about Kp 3.
Right now
It is still light here. Darkness starts at 19:45.
Latest measured half-hour activity worldwide: Hp30 3.7.
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 2.7 expected, 1.3 needed for photos, 3 for the eye.
- Sky Mostly clear (36% cloud).
- Darkness Dark from 19:45 to 07:03. A bright moon (87%) 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.
Sunday 25 October — Possible · Kp 3 · best around 00:30 · Forecast cloud: 0%. · Reliability: low (rough trend)
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 14:40 local time
Possible
Best around 05:00. Forecast max Kp 2.7 (this place needs 3), average cloud 36%.
- Dark enough
- 19:45 – 07:03
- Sunset
- 18:38 · sunrise 08:10
- Moon
- 87% · ↑ 17:01 · ↓ 05:07
- Kp neededKp index: a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity. The higher it is, the further from the poles the aurora reaches.
- Kp 3
- Kp for photos
- In photos: from Kp 1.3 (a red glow low in the north).
- Look towards
- north (8°)
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 | Thu, 19 | Thu, 22 | Fri, 01 | Fri, 04 | Fri, 19 | Fri, 22 | Sat, 01 | Sat, 04 | Sat, 19 | Sat, 22 | Sun, 01 | Sun, 04 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low cloud | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 21% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Mid cloud | 34% | 39% | 36% | 16% | 63% | 32% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| High cloud | 0% | 27% | 53% | 54% | 65% | 33% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Temperature | 19 °C | 17 °C | 16 °C | 15 °C | 22 °C | 22 °C | 20 °C | 14 °C | 7 °C | 5 °C | 3 °C | 1 °C |
| Feels like | 19 °C | 17 °C | 16 °C | 15 °C | 22 °C | 22 °C | 20 °C | 14 °C | 4 °C | 2 °C | -1 °C | -2 °C |
| Wind | 4 m/s | 4 m/s | 4 m/s | 4 m/s | 6 m/s | 6 m/s | 8 m/s | 9 m/s | 4 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 m/s | 3 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 Harvey
The aurora only shows through clear skies, so the weather matters as much as the Kp index. Here is the general forecast for Harvey: temperature, wind and the chance of rain for the coming days.
Planning further ahead? See the hour-by-hour weather forecast for Harvey on Atlas of Seasons.
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What you would see from Harvey
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 | 6° | 13° | 678 km |
| 3 | Visible to the north | 11° | 21° | 456 km |
| 4 | Visible to the north | 23° | 39° | 234 km |
| 5 | Visible to the north | 84° | 87° | 11 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 Harvey Only under the auroral oval: northern Norway, Swedish and Finnish Lapland, Iceland, Alaska, northern Canada.
- Kp 3 Unsettled next 24 h eye in Harvey 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
Rural to suburban. Some sky glow from nearby lights. Moderate displays are fine; faint ones are easier a few kilometres out.
A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the south-south-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 0.0°), 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 Harvey
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
February has been the best month (25% of nights), followed by September (24%).
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 24% | 72% | 9.1 h | 9° / 23°C |
| October | 22% | 57% | 10.9 h | 2° / 13°C |
| November | 16% | 45% | 12.1 h | -6° / 3°C |
| December | 13% | 51% | 13.0 h | -13° / -5°C |
| January | 19% | 59% | 12.5 h | -16° / -7°C |
| February | 25% | 65% | 11.4 h | -16° / -5°C |
| March | 19% | 52% | 9.9 h | -7° / 5°C |
| April | 14% | 54% | 7.8 h | -1° / 12°C |
Aurora nights in Harvey 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
- Devils Lake Regional Airport (DVL) · 86 km
- Typical low / high in February
- -16° / -5°C
- What to wear
- Arctic cold: wool base layers, insulated jacket and trousers, warm boots, hat and mittens. 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 Harvey?
From Harvey the aurora is visible on most active nights — first low to the north, from about Kp 3.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Harvey?
Face north (about 8° from true north). At Kp 3 the lower edge of the aurora sits roughly 11° above the horizon; stronger activity lifts it higher and further across the sky.
What is the best month to see the aurora in Harvey?
Over 2005–2025, February gave the best odds in Harvey (25% of nights dark, active enough and mostly clear), followed by September (24%).
When is the aurora season in Harvey?
Harvey 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 Harvey?
Some sky glow from nearby lights. Moderate displays are fine; faint ones are easier a few kilometres out. A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the south-south-east.
When was the aurora last possible in Harvey?
Activity last reached storm level (Kp 5 or more) during darkness in Harvey on 4 October 2026 (Kp 5.0) — 923 such nights since 1995. Here the aurora also appears on many quieter nights.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Harvey share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- City of Harvey 0 km
- Township of Wells 6 km
- Township of Hillsdale 6 km
- Township of Forward 7 km
- Township of Western 8 km
- Selz 10 km
- Township of Hagel 14 km
- Township of Truman 14 km
- Township of Fram 15 km
- Township of Manfred 15 km
- Wellsburg 15 km
- Clifton 15 km
- Martin 15 km
- City of Martin 15 km
- Township of Martin 15 km
- Manfred 16 km
- Township of Berlin 16 km
- Township of Pony Gulch 16 km
- Township of Rusland 17 km
- Township of East Fork 19 km
- Township of Fairview 20 km
- Township of White 20 km
- Heimdal 22 km
- Township of Saint Anna 23 km
- Township of Heimdal 24 km
- Township of West Norway 24 km
- Township of Crystal Lake 25 km
- Township of Delger 26 km
- Anamoose 26 km
- City of Anamoose 26 km
- Township of Arne 27 km
- Fessenden 27 km
- City of Fessenden 27 km
- Township of Rich Valley 27 km
- Township of Antelope Lake 27 km
- Aylmer 27 km
- Township of Boone 28 km
- Township of Anamoose 28 km
- Wells County 29 km
- Township of Oshkosh 30 km