Aurora Forecast

This is NOAA's live aurora forecast for the Northern Hemisphere — not a webcam, but a real-time map from the Space Weather Prediction Center showing where the northern lights are likely to be visible right now. The green-to-red band is the auroral oval, the model's estimate of auroral intensity and how far south it may be seen over the next 30 to 90 minutes, based on the OVATION model and live solar-wind data. Read it alongside the Kp index: the further south and brighter the oval, the stronger the geomagnetic activity and the better the chances of a display at lower latitudes. Aurora is driven by the solar wind striking the upper atmosphere, so activity rises and falls with the Sun's 11-year cycle and with day-to-day space weather — a strong solar storm can push the oval down over the northern U.S. and beyond. The map updates continuously. Use it to plan: if the oval is bright and reaching toward your latitude on a clear, dark night, it's worth getting away from city lights and looking north. Pair it with any of the live aurora cameras for a real-time view of what the forecast is predicting.