Alaska Aurora Forecast

We score 24 lookouts, 11 in the Interior and 13 in Southcentral.

Cleary Summit, 2,090 feet. A plowed pullout at the top of the Steese, above the valley cloud and already facing north.

Murphy Dome, 2,930 feet. The highest road you can drive near town, and the horizon opens the whole way round.

Ester Dome, 2,361 feet. A short climb west of town, often above the valley cloud, so it costs little when the sky is uncertain.

Chena Hot Springs. Far from any town glow, and the one place here built around watching for it.

Fox. Just past the edge of the Fairbanks glow, which is most of the battle.

Creamer's Field. An open field inside the city, so the glow is real, but nothing blocks the northern horizon.

Fairbanks. City glow costs you the faint nights. Under this band, plenty of nights are not faint.

Chena Lake. Flat open ground east of North Pole, where the lake keeps the trees off the horizon.

North Pole. Flat open ground east of the city, with the glow behind you when you look north.

Nenana. West of the city lights, and the river valley opens the northern horizon.

Delta Junction. South of the Fairbanks domes, so it needs a bigger night than Fairbanks does.

Glennallen. Far from city light, and usually the clearest sky in Southcentral.

Talkeetna. Dark north of the village, and the drive up is the easy part.

Hatcher Pass, 3,886 feet. Height gets you above the valley cloud when Palmer is socked in.

Willow. Far enough up the Parks to leave the valley glow behind, with the flats open north.

Palmer. Open farmland with a clear northern horizon, close to town.

Wasilla. The brightest town in the valley, so the faint nights are lost, but stepping outside costs nothing.

Eklutna Lake. Mountains block the town glow to the south and leave the north open.

Glen Alps, 2,198 feet. Just up the hillside from the bowl, so the city glow is below you rather than in front of you.

Anchorage. City glow costs you the faint nights, but the strong ones still show.

Beluga Point. A plowed pullout on the arm. The wall behind you closes the north, so it takes a strong night.

Girdwood. Steep walls close the northern horizon. Good only on a strong night.

Seward. Coastal cloud wins most nights here.

Homer. Far down the Kenai, so it needs a big night to be worth the drive.

Most aurora forecasts tell you the Kp number and leave you to guess what it means from your driveway. This one scores 24 specific places for tonight, and it weighs the thing that actually decides most nights here: cloud. A strong display above a solid overcast is a display you will not see.

The level, 1 to 5, comes from aurora strength times clear sky, times darkness, times the moon. On a level 1 or 2 night the page names what holds the night back: cloud, a quiet aurora, a sky still too light, or a bright moon. A 5 means go tonight, a 4 is worth the drive to a dark spot, a 3 is worth stepping out, and a 2 is a maybe. Nothing reaches certainty, because the sky does not offer it.

The band that only reaches Anchorage on a strong night sits over Fairbanks on plenty of ordinary ones, and the northern sites are scored on their own sky.