Guides
The best places to see the northern lights in the United States
Ranked by the storm each place needs, then checked against darkness, cloud and the official dark sky sites nearby.
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The best place in the United States to see the northern lights is interior Alaska: Fairbanks sits at 65.2 degrees magnetic latitude and needs only about Kp 0.4, so aurora shows on most clear dark nights, but it has no astronomical darkness at all in April, May, June, July and August. In the lower 48 the easiest places are along the Canadian border of Minnesota and North Dakota: International Falls needs about Kp 4.2, Ely 4.5 and Minot 4.6, all below the G1 storm threshold. The Keweenaw and the north shore of Lake Superior follow, with Houghton at Kp 4.9 and Duluth at 5.0. Montana's Hi-Line, with Havre at Kp 5.0, matches Duluth. South of these, every step costs a rarer storm: Minneapolis needs Kp 5.9, a G2 (Moderate) storm, and Chicago Kp 6.7, a G3 (Strong) storm. Geometry decides the ranking; dark skies, a northern horizon and winter cloud decide the night.
What Kp does this town need?
Kp to see aurora from here
4.2
| Magnetic latitude (AACGM) | 57.6° |
| Kp for aurora overhead | 4.2 |
| Storm level | no storm needed |
| How often that level comes | most active nights |
View line: the more southern of the SWPC oval rule and the NOAA G scale latitudes at each Kp.
The ranking, by the storm each place needs
Every place in this guide is placed by one number: the Kp at which aurora rises into view above its northern horizon. That number comes from the magnetic latitude of the place, computed with the AACGM-v2 model, and from the visibility rule published on the method page, which at each Kp takes the more southern of two lines: the edge of the oval in SWPC's viewing tips, and the latitudes where the NOAA Space Weather Scales say aurora has been seen during storms. The list below keeps only places a traveler could actually base a night from, a town with roads, lodging and a dark edge within a short drive.
| Place | Magnetic latitude | Kp to see aurora | Storm level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairbanks, AK | 65.2° | 0.4 | no storm |
| Anchorage, AK | 61.1° | 2.4 | no storm |
| International Falls, MN | 57.6° | 4.2 | no storm |
| Ely, MN | 57.0° | 4.5 | no storm |
| Minot, ND | 56.7° | 4.6 | no storm |
| Houghton, MI | 56.3° | 4.9 | G1 (Minor) |
| Duluth, MN | 55.9° | 5.0 | G1 (Minor) |
| Havre, MT | 56.0° | 5.0 | G1 (Minor) |
| Marquette, MI | 55.7° | 5.1 | G1 (Minor) |
| Dickinson, ND | 55.3° | 5.4 | G1 (Minor) |
| Kalispell, MT | 54.9° | 5.6 | G1 (Minor) |
| Traverse City, MI | 54.0° | 6.0 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Minneapolis, MN | 54.2° | 5.9 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Chicago, IL | 51.3° | 6.7 | G3 (Strong) |
The order surprises people who think in ordinary latitude. Minot in North Dakota lies slightly south of Havre in Montana, yet it needs a lower Kp than any Montana town in the data, and Duluth needs about Kp 5.0 against 6.4 for Seattle although the two cities sit within a degree of latitude. The reason is the position of the north magnetic pole, which the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information track as it drifts across the Arctic: the American Midwest faces it more directly than the Pacific Northwest or New England.
The gaps also matter more than the order. Between Fairbanks at Kp 0.4 and Minneapolis at Kp 5.9 the difference is not a long drive but a different kind of night. NOAA counts about 1,700 G1 storms per eleven-year solar cycle and about 600 G2 storms, so a town that needs a G2 storm gets roughly a third as many chances as a town that needs a G1. Below the Kp 5 line no storm is needed at all, and the odds depend mostly on darkness and the weather.
Interior Alaska: under the oval, short of darkness
Fairbanks, the largest town of the Alaska interior, sits almost under the auroral oval even on a quiet night. SWPC's aurora page puts the best viewing between about 60 and 75 degrees of latitude, and the town's magnetic latitude of 65.2 degrees lands in the middle of that band. A night with Kp 0.4 or more, which is most nights, brings the light overhead or close to it. Anchorage, farther south and on the coast, needs about Kp 2.4, still no storm at all.
The limit in Alaska is the Sun. On the 15th of April, May, June, July and August, the Sun never sinks 18 degrees below the horizon at Fairbanks, so the sky never reaches full darkness and faint aurora is lost in twilight. The season really runs from late August to mid-April. Winter cloud is the other filter: the NASA POWER record gives Fairbanks about 60% average cloud from November to February. For a park setting, the National Park Service describes Denali as a strong aurora site because of its far northern latitude and very limited light pollution, and it advises letting your eyes adapt for at least 30 minutes.
The northern border of the lower 48
The best odds south of Canada are in a strip from Minot in North Dakota to the Arrowhead of Minnesota. International Falls, on the Rainy River, needs about Kp 4.2; Ely, at the edge of the Boundary Waters, needs about 4.5. Both sit below the line where a G1 storm begins, which means a moderately active night can do it. Nearby Voyageurs National Park names two designated dark sky viewing areas on its stargazing page: the Meadwood Road day use area on the Ash River Visitor Center road and the upper parking lot of the Rainy Lake Visitor Center. The same page says the park is still working to reduce its lighting to become a Dark Sky Park, so it is not yet certified.
West of the Red River, Minot needs about Kp 4.6 and Dickinson about 5.4. The badlands of Theodore Roosevelt National Park lie just west of Dickinson; the Park Service says the northern lights may occasionally be visible there and warns of light pollution from the oil and gas fields around the park. The plains have one advantage over the forests to the east: the northern horizon is open almost everywhere, and the NASA POWER record gives Dickinson about 65% average cloud from November to February.
Montana's Hi-Line follows the border west. Havre needs about Kp 5.0, the same as Duluth, while Kalispell near Glacier needs about 5.6 because the mountains of the Northwest sit farther from the magnetic pole. The Montana page ranks its towns.
Lake Superior and the Great Lakes shore
Lake Superior gives what few inland places can: a flat, unlit northern horizon over open water. Houghton on the Keweenaw needs about Kp 4.9, Duluth about 5.0, Marquette about 5.1 and Sault Ste. Marie about 5.2. All four are G1 territory or just short of it. Cloud is the price: the NASA POWER climatology gives Marquette about 80% average cloud from November to February, against about 65% at Duluth. The Duluth page and the Michigan page give the full month by month figures.
Farther south on Lake Michigan, the Headlands near Mackinaw City is run by Emmet County as an International Dark Sky Park; its grounds and viewing areas are open around the clock every day of the year, and only red lights are allowed in the designated viewing area. It sits between Traverse City, which needs about Kp 6.0, and Sault Ste. Marie, so a G1 or G2 storm is the usual requirement there.
In Pennsylvania, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources declared Cherry Springs State Park its first Dark Sky Park in 2000. The park protects its night sky, but its magnetic position is modest: Erie, the best placed town of the state in the site's data, needs about Kp 6.8, a G3 (Strong) storm, and Cherry Springs lies south and east of Erie, so it needs at least as much.
Choosing a spot on the night
A ranking tells you where the odds are best over a season. On a given evening, three things matter more than a tenth of a Kp. First, a clear view toward the north, low to the horizon, because on most nights south of Canada the aurora sits low: a lakeshore, a hilltop or open prairie beats a forest clearing. SWPC notes that from a good vantage point aurora can be seen even when it is about 1,000 km farther north. Second, distance from city glow, which hides the faint green arcs that a G1 storm brings to the northern tier. Third, the clouds hour by hour, which no ranking can predict.
That is what the forecast is for. The tonight page combines the Kp forecast, the OVATION model and the cloud forecast for any town or ZIP code, the three-night forecast helps plan a trip, and the best time guide explains which weeks and hours give the most darkness. For the full list of towns, sorted from the easiest to the hardest, see the ranking page.