The Sun runs a weather system the size of the solar system, and Earth lives
inside it. Here's the forecast.
The Aurora, Right Now
NOAA OVATION · loading…
NOAA's OVATION model turns live solar-wind measurements into a probability
map of where aurora is happening in the next half hour or so. The green glow is the oval —
it lives over the poles and bulges toward midnight, and on big storm nights it swells toward
the equator. Drag to spin the globe; the dark hemisphere is night, where you'd actually see it.
Probability of visible aurora · brighter green = better odds ·
red tinge = very high. Hover anywhere for the chance at that spot.
Tonight and Tomorrow Night
The globe above is the next half hour. These are NOAA's forecasts for the
whole night ahead over North America, rebuilt through the day from the Kp forecast. Green is
where aurora is likely overhead. On an active night it can also show low on the northern
horizon from well south of the green band.
One number for the whole planet's magnetic mood, updated every three hours
from ground magnetometers worldwide. Below 4 is a quiet field; 5 and above is a geomagnetic
storm, graded G1 to G5. The outlined bars are NOAA's forecast.
7 days back · 3 days forward
NOAA SWPC · loading…
Planetary Kp
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Range
Hover to read any bar · drag left-to-right across the chart to zoom · double-click or “reset zoom” to return · click a bar to pin its read-out.
The Solar Wind
Measured at the L1 point, a million miles upstream — which gives Earth about
30 to 60 minutes of warning before whatever's coming arrives. Speed jumps and density spikes
are how storms announce themselves. Hover either chart and both read the same moment.
Protons per cubic centimeter. A sudden jump means a shock front just blew past the sensor.
The Switch: Bz
Speed and density say how hard the wind is blowing. Bz says whether it can get
in. It's the north–south direction of the magnetic field the solar wind carries. When Bz points
south (negative), that field links up with Earth's and energy pours in. Fast wind with a
northward Bz mostly slides past.
Bz · last hour
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The Wire
NOAA's actual space weather bulletins, as they're issued — the same feed
power-grid operators and satellite controllers watch.
Latest bulletins
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About these instruments
Solar wind data comes from the DSCOVR and ACE spacecraft at L1. The Kp index is computed from
a worldwide network of ground magnetometers. The OVATION aurora model is run by NOAA's Space
Weather Prediction Center, the same office that issues every bulletin above. All of it is public
data, updated continuously.