Belfast, UK · magnetic latitude 51.7°
Northern lights in Belfast: tonight’s chance
From Belfast the northern horizon runs over Belfast Lough and the Antrim hills; the north coast is an hour away.
Tonight at Belfast, UK
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Reading the SWPC Kp forecast and the cloud forecast…
| Kp forecast during the dark hours | not yet forecast |
|---|---|
| Kp needed here | 6.7 (G2 moderate) |
| Cloud cover in the dark hours | loading |
| Dark sky (Sun 18° down) | 8:29 PM to 5:50 AM GMT+1 |
| Moon | 11% lit |
| Right now, OVATION (30 to 90 min) | loading or unavailable |
| Magnetic latitude (AACGM) | 51.7° |
Hour by hour, GMT+1
7 PM
Kp –
– ☁
No
8 PM
Kp –
– ☁
No
9 PM
Kp –
– ☁
No
10 PM
Kp –
– ☁
No
11 PM
Kp –
– ☁
No
12 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
1 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
2 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
3 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
4 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
5 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
6 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
Rules checked · Built by Radif Partners · How the answer works
- Kp to see it from Belfast
- 6.7
- Storm level needed
- G2 (Moderate)
- Kp for aurora overhead
- 7.2
- Most clear dark hours
- December
Belfast needs a planetary Kp of about 6.7 to see the northern lights on this site's view line, a G2 (Moderate) storm on the NOAA scale. The city lies at 51.7 degrees magnetic latitude in the AACGM model, about 1.4 degrees below Glasgow, and the aurora reaches overhead only around Kp 7.2, in the strongest storms. The threshold is cautious: on a smaller storm, a faint glow can show low in the north from the Antrim coast, which the tool rates as maybe. Northern Ireland's nights are short in summer, with no astronomical darkness in May, June and July, and long in winter, 12.2 hours in mid-December. Its weather is Atlantic: the NASA POWER cloud amount ranges from 71% in May to 81% in January. By clear dark hours, December, November and January lead.
To the north coast
Belfast sits at the head of Belfast Lough, ringed by hills, and its own lights fill the low northern sky. The real asset of Northern Ireland for the aurora is its north coast, a little over an hour away. From the headlands of the Causeway Coast, between Portrush and Ballycastle, the view north runs across the open sea toward the islands of Scotland, with almost no light on the horizon. A storm that barely reaches the threshold sits low there, and the sea gives the flat skyline it needs.
How dark, how clear: one town, one month
Hours of full darkness on the 15th
12.2 h
| Dark sky | 6:13 PM to 6:24 AM |
| Including nautical twilight | 13.7 h |
| Mean cloud amount (NASA POWER) | 80% |
| Clear dark hours on an average night | 2.4 h |
Computed for 2027; the hours move by a few minutes from one year to the next.
The Antrim plateau and Lough Neagh
Between the city and the coast, the Antrim plateau rises in moorland and glens with scattered farms. Its high roads give wide views and much darker skies than the lough shore. Lough Neagh, west of the city, is the largest lake in the British Isles, and its shores are low and dark; the northern horizon there runs over farmland toward the Sperrins. Any of these work on a strong storm night, and the plateau is the quickest to reach from Belfast.
What a storm looks like from here
At Kp 6.7, the aurora over Northern Ireland is a low arc above the northern sea, pale to the eye and green or pink on a phone screen. In stronger storms, rays rise from it and a red glow spreads above, the light of oxygen at heights above 300 km. Give your eyes twenty minutes away from car headlights before judging what is there.
Weather from the west
Atlantic systems arrive in Northern Ireland early, and cloud is the main reason a forecast storm goes unseen. Clear spells usually come behind a front, in cooler air from the north-west, and they often last only a few hours. The tool uses the MET Norway forecast for the coordinates you choose, so it is worth comparing Belfast with a point on the north coast before setting off: the two can differ on the same night. The SWPC forecast blocks are written in Universal Time, the same as Greenwich Mean Time in winter, so in Belfast the blocks need no conversion until British Summer Time begins. For the rest of the United Kingdom, see the UK page; across the North Channel, the Glasgow page.
Kp needed around Belfast
| Town | Magnetic latitude | Kp to see it | Kp overhead | Storm level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lerwick | 57.9° | 4.1 | 4.1 | no storm |
| Kirkwall | 56.6° | 4.7 | 4.7 | G1 (Minor) |
| Thurso | 56.2° | 4.9 | 4.9 | G1 (Minor) |
| Inverness | 55.0° | 5.5 | 5.5 | G1 (Minor) |
| Aberdeen | 54.5° | 5.8 | 5.8 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Edinburgh | 53.1° | 6.4 | 6.4 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Glasgow | 53.1° | 6.4 | 6.5 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 51.9° | 6.6 | 7.0 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Belfast | 51.7° | 6.7 | 7.2 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Manchester | 50.2° | 7.0 | 7.9 | G3 (Strong) |
| Cardiff | 47.8° | 7.4 | beyond 9 | G3 (Strong) |
| London | 47.7° | 7.5 | beyond 9 | G3 (Strong) |
Darkness and clouds by month in Belfast
| Month | Dark hours | Dark sky, 15th | Mean cloud | Clear dark hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11.8 h | 6:39 PM to 6:25 AM | 81% | 2.2 h |
| February | 10.2 h | 7:31 PM to 5:43 AM | 79% | 2.2 h |
| March | 8.1 h | 8:28 PM to 4:35 AM | 76% | 2.0 h |
| April | 5.1 h | 10:51 PM to 3:54 AM | 73% | 1.4 h |
| May | none | – | 71% | 0.0 h |
| June | none | – | 75% | 0.0 h |
| July | none | – | 77% | 0.0 h |
| August | 3.5 h | 11:43 PM to 3:13 AM | 76% | 0.8 h |
| September | 7.1 h | 9:47 PM to 4:50 AM | 76% | 1.7 h |
| October | 9.5 h | 8:25 PM to 5:54 AM | 79% | 2.0 h |
| November | 11.3 h | 6:28 PM to 5:48 AM | 80% | 2.2 h |
| December | 12.2 h | 6:13 PM to 6:24 AM | 80% | 2.4 h |