Northern lights in New York City: tonight’s chance

A big storm and a long drive

New York City is far from the oval: its threshold of Kp 7.2 is among the highest of the cities on this site, and its light is among the brightest. Both point the same way. When SWPC issues a watch for G3 or G4 conditions, the plan is to be north of the city with a dark northern horizon by the time darkness falls, then to watch the Kp estimate and the OVATION line of the tool through the evening. Every hour of driving north lowers the threshold a little and removes a lot of light: Albany needs about 6.8, and the Adirondacks less again.

The light dome

Seen from the countryside, the metro area is a glowing dome that rises tens of degrees above the horizon, and from inside it a faint red aurora disappears. What matters is where the dome sits relative to the aurora: from the Hudson Highlands or the Catskills, the city glow is to the south and the northern sky can be quite dark. Long Island's north shore faces north across the Sound, but the lights of the Connecticut coast sit on that horizon. Upstate fields and hilltops are the safer bet.

Signals to watch on the night

For the city, three signs justify the drive. An SWPC watch or warning for G3 or stronger; a current Kp estimate climbing toward 7.2; and an OVATION band that has moved far south over the Great Lakes on the live map. Any one of them alone is a reason to keep checking; together they are a reason to go.

What it looks like from here

From this far south of the oval, the part of a storm aurora that rises above the horizon is its upper layer, where oxygen above about 300 km emits red light, as SWPC explains. The result is a diffuse pink or red glow, sometimes with pale rays, that the eye may read as a strange cloud. A phone in night mode on a steady support shows it clearly, as the phone photography guide explains. On December 15, full darkness runs from 6:07 PM to 5:34 AM. For the rest of the state, see the New York page.