Northern lights tonight?

Three things have to line up: darkness, a clear sky, and the sun in a bad mood (a Kp of 2 or more is often enough). The app checks the Kp index (from NOAA) and the cloud cover (from Open-Meteo) for where you are. This page is tonight's read for Reykjavík.

Live, updated 12:45 UTC.

Poor. Probably not tonight.

Darkness 18:20 to 08:05, about 13.8 hours of it.

Kp now: 0.0
Kp forecast max: 3.0
Low cloud: 17%
High cloud: 75%
Score: 25/100

How to read it

Kp is the global geomagnetic index, 0 to 9. In Iceland, Kp 2 with a clear sky already shows a faint arc; Kp 4 and up is the wallpaper stuff. Cloud is the usual killer: low cloud hides everything, high cloud dims it.

Where to go

Out of the city light: Grótta lighthouse, Öskjuhlíð, or anywhere ten minutes past the last streetlamp. Face north, give your eyes ten minutes, keep the phone in your pocket.

When

Late August to mid-April. Peak hours are usually 22:00 to 02:00, but a strong show can start at dinner. The app watches the numbers so you don't have to.

Tonight's weather

-1°C, wind 1.4 m/s, sunset 16:39.

All of this, live, in your pocket.

Most of this lives in the app too, on a map that knows where you're standing. It counts down to the next happy hour, knows which cheap-eats deal is on right now, checks tonight's aurora and the weather, and shows opening hours before you've walked there. A local friend in your pocket, from arrival to adventure. Free, no account needed, no nagging.

Download the app