Aurora Borealis in Anchorage
United States · 61.22°, -149.90° · geomagnetic 61.9° · needs Kp 5
Tonight in Anchorage
23%
Peak chance of a visible display tonight, from the same model the Revon app runs. Anchorage needs Kp 5 to see anything at all, and tonight the forecast peaks at Kp 4.7. Short of the threshold, which is what most nights look like here.
Updated 2026-08-02 20:20 UTC
The next 30 nights in Anchorage
Every night to come, scored the same way as tonight. The best of the open week is Sunday 2 Aug at 23%. Not one of the seven reaches the Kp 5 that Anchorage needs, which is normal rather than unlucky — it averages 20.1 viable nights a year. The 23 nights past the seven-day window move with the 27-day solar rotation and are updated daily in the app.
Nights 8–30 unlock in the Revon app
See all 30 nights for Anchorage
Revon aurora model over the NOAA Kp forecast and 27-day outlook
How often the aurora borealis reaches Anchorage
20.1 nights a year, averaged across 10.0 years of records
| Storm level | Nights / year |
|---|---|
| Kp 4 | 83.4 |
| Kp 5 | 28.7 |
| Kp 6 | 9.3 |
| Kp 7 | 3.2 |
| Kp 8 | 1.2 |
NOAA planetary Kp, 2016-04-02 to 2026-03-30
Worth watching through the dark half of the year
Kp 5 is a moderate storm — not an everyday event, but common enough that a patient observer in Anchorage sees the aurora borealis most winters.
Hours of true darkness, month by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.1 | 10.2 | 7.5 | 2.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 9.4 | 11.7 | 12.7 |
Solar declination and hour angle at −18°
Nothing to see from May to August
Through those months the sun never falls more than 18° below the Anchorage horizon, so the sky never darkens fully. Plan around the darker half of the year.
Getting clear of the light
With 289,600 people around you, the sky over central Anchorage is Bortle 6. The glow hides anything but the brightest display, so the drive out matters more here than the forecast does.
- 32 km north — around Matanuska-Susitna Borough → Bortle 5
- 32 km west — around Matanuska-Susitna Borough → Bortle 4
Falchi 2016 World Atlas (DOI: 10.5880/GFZ.1.4.2016.001)
The months that actually deliver
Counting only nights that were both stormy enough and dark enough, September, March and October came out ahead in Anchorage. That is storm season and darkness overlapping — the equinoxes tend to be geomagnetically active, and the nights are already long by then.
Darkest nights of the coming year
A bright moon washes out a weak display as effectively as street lighting. These new moons fall inside the Anchorage viewing season.
- 11 Sep 2026
- 11 Oct 2026
- 09 Nov 2026
- 09 Dec 2026
- 07 Jan 2027
- 06 Feb 2027
- 08 Mar 2027
Where it is close to a certainty
If you would rather plan a trip than wait for a storm, the nearest place with genuinely frequent aurora is Fairbanks, 417 km north-north-east in United States.
| Anchorage | Fairbanks | |
|---|---|---|
| Kp needed | 5 | 3 |
| Nights per year | 20.1 | 171.4 |
| Geomagnetic latitude | 61.9° | 65.6° |
Confirmed reports from this area
48 verified sightings were logged within 300 km of Anchorage between 2015-01-01 and 2016-12-31. Rare is not the same as impossible.
Aurorasaurus verified positive reports
Where the horizon opens up near Anchorage
The display sits low on the northern horizon, so what beats a better forecast is open ground facing that way. Height gets you above the town glow; water gives you an unbroken skyline. These are within a short drive of Anchorage.
- Paxton Memorial Park — park3.0 km north-east
- Salmon Run Park — park4.3 km east-north-east
- Cairn Point — cape4.5 km north-north-east
- Point MacKenzie — cape5.1 km west-north-west
- Lazy Lake — lake5.7 km north-east
- Triangle Lake — lake7.5 km north-east
Places from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
What to do with the daylight
Aurora watching is a night job, and in winter that leaves a short, bright day to fill. Close to Anchorage you will find KTBY-TV (Anchorage), KPXR-FM (Anchorage) and KBYR-AM (Anchorage), and for a day when the cloud sits low, Oscar Anderson House Museum and Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum are indoors and near by.
Keep the daylight loose: the sky decides the evening, and the forecast can turn within a few hours.
Places from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where to stay
Staying central in Anchorage is fine for everything except the aurora itself — you will still need to drive out. If seeing it matters more than convenience, base yourself on the edge of town facing your dark spot.
- Westmark Anchorage Hotel, a Holland America Line Company 0.3 km from the centre
- Historic Anchorage Hotel 0.5 km from the centre
- Anchorage Grand Hotel 0.5 km from the centre
- Hilton Anchorage 0.5 km from the centre
- Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel Anchorage 0.8 km from the centre
- Comfort Inn Ship Creek 1.0 km from the centre
Places from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) — confirm before booking
The last nights it was visible here
Nights in the last decade when the storm was strong enough for Anchorage and the sky was dark enough to show it.
| Date | Peak |
|---|---|
| 2026-03-24 | Kp 5.0 |
| 2026-03-23 | Kp 5.0 |
| 2026-03-22 | Kp 6.67 |
| 2026-03-21 | Kp 6.0 |
| 2026-03-20 | Kp 7.0 |
NOAA planetary Kp
Know when it is worth going outside
Revon watches the Anchorage forecast and pushes an alert when the odds for tonight clear your threshold — no checking, no guessing.
Common questions about the aurora borealis in Anchorage
Can you see the aurora borealis from Anchorage?
Yes. On the last 10.0 years of NOAA Kp records, Anchorage had about 20.1 nights a year when the storm was strong enough and the sky dark enough at the same time.
What Kp index do you need to see the aurora borealis in Anchorage?
Kp 5. Anchorage sits at geomagnetic latitude 61.9°, and the auroral oval only reaches that far from the pole once activity hits Kp 5. Storms that size occur about 28.7 nights a year.
When is the best time of year to see the aurora borealis in Anchorage?
September, March and October. Those months scored highest once both conditions are counted together: geomagnetic activity and enough hours of real darkness. From May to August the sky over Anchorage never gets fully dark, so nothing is visible however strong the storm.
Where can you escape the light pollution near Anchorage?
The centre of Anchorage reads Bortle 6. The nearest sky at Bortle 4 is about 32 km west around Matanuska-Susitna Borough. On a marginal night that drive matters more than the forecast does.
Where is the nearest place to Anchorage with reliable aurora borealis?
Fairbanks, United States — 417 km north-north-east. It needs only Kp 3 and averages 171.4 viable nights a year against 20.1 in Anchorage.
Nearby towns
Forecasts for places within reach of Anchorage.
- 🇺🇸 Badger - United States416 km
- 🇺🇸 Fairbanks - United States417 km
- 🇨🇦 Whitehorse - Canada801 km
- 🇺🇸 Juneau - United States923 km
- 🇨🇦 Terrace - Canada1454 km
- 🇨🇦 Fort St. John - Canada1748 km
- 🇨🇦 Prince George - Canada1793 km
- 🇨🇦 Yellowknife - Canada1846 km