Aurora Borealis in Lloydminster
Canada · 53.27°, -110.02° · geomagnetic 60.2° · needs Kp 5
Tonight in Lloydminster
29%
Peak chance of a visible display tonight, from the same model the Revon app runs. Lloydminster 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 Lloydminster
Every night to come, scored the same way as tonight. The best of the open week is Sunday 2 Aug at 29%. Not one of the seven reaches the Kp 5 that Lloydminster needs, which is normal rather than unlucky — it averages 24.5 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 Lloydminster
Revon aurora model over the NOAA Kp forecast and 27-day outlook
How often the aurora borealis reaches Lloydminster
24.5 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 Lloydminster 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11.7 | 10.3 | 8.4 | 5.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.1 | 7.4 | 9.7 | 11.4 | 12.1 |
Solar declination and hour angle at −18°
Nothing to see from May to July
Through those months the sun never falls more than 18° below the Lloydminster horizon, so the sky never darkens fully. Plan around the darker half of the year.
Getting clear of the light
The sky over Lloydminster reads Bortle 5. Getting clear of the built-up area makes a visible difference on a marginal night.
- 3 km south-south-east → Bortle 5
- 25 km north — around Britannia No. 502 → 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 Lloydminster. 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 Lloydminster viewing season.
- 13 Aug 2026
- 11 Sep 2026
- 11 Oct 2026
- 09 Nov 2026
- 09 Dec 2026
- 07 Jan 2027
- 06 Feb 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 Yellowknife, 1,052 km north-north-west in Canada.
| Lloydminster | Yellowknife | |
|---|---|---|
| Kp needed | 5 | 3 |
| Nights per year | 24.5 | 171.4 |
| Geomagnetic latitude | 60.2° | 68.6° |
Confirmed reports from this area
111 verified sightings were logged within 300 km of Lloydminster 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 Lloydminster
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 Lloydminster.
- Neale Lake — lake6.6 km east-north-east
- Sandybeach Lake — lake21.7 km north
- Five Kill Hill — hill29.7 km west-south-west
- Gibbons Ridge — ridge34.1 km south-south-east
Places from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where to stay
Anywhere on the outskirts of Lloydminster will do; what matters is being able to step outside and check the sky without a drive first.
- West Harvest Inn 0.6 km from the centre
- Best Western Wayside Inn Stes 0.6 km from the centre
- Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Lloydminster 0.6 km from the centre
- Ramada Inn Lloydminster 0.7 km from the centre
- Econo Lodge 1.7 km from the centre
- Home2 Suites By Hilton Austin North Near The Domain 2.9 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 Lloydminster 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 Lloydminster forecast and pushes an alert when the odds for tonight clear your threshold — no checking, no guessing.
Common questions about the aurora borealis in Lloydminster
Can you see the aurora borealis from Lloydminster?
Yes. On the last 10.0 years of NOAA Kp records, Lloydminster had about 24.5 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 Lloydminster?
Kp 5. Lloydminster sits at geomagnetic latitude 60.2°, 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 Lloydminster?
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 July the sky over Lloydminster never gets fully dark, so nothing is visible however strong the storm.
Where can you escape the light pollution near Lloydminster?
The centre of Lloydminster reads Bortle 5. The nearest sky at Bortle 4 is about 25 km north around Britannia No. 502. On a marginal night that drive matters more than the forecast does.
Where is the nearest place to Lloydminster with reliable aurora borealis?
Yellowknife, Canada — 1,052 km north-north-west. It needs only Kp 3 and averages 171.4 viable nights a year against 24.5 in Lloydminster.
Nearby towns
Forecasts for places within reach of Lloydminster.
- 🇨🇦 North Battleford - Canada128 km
- 🇨🇦 Camrose - Canada190 km
- 🇨🇦 Sherwood Park - Canada220 km
- 🇨🇦 Edmonton - Canada230 km
- 🇨🇦 Leduc - Canada235 km
- 🇨🇦 St. Albert - Canada243 km
- 🇨🇦 Saskatoon - Canada259 km
- 🇨🇦 Spruce Grove - Canada260 km