Aurora forecast Rijeka

Northern Lights tonight in Rijeka

Updated

Unlikely tonight (Kp 3 forecast; Rijeka needs an extreme Kp 9 storm)

Will you see the northern lights from Rijeka, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Croatia tonight? We combine NOAA's Kp forecast, the OVATION aurora model, cloud cover and the hours of darkness. Times are local (Europe/Zagreb).

Kp now
2 quiet, estimated
Max Kp forecast tonight
3 quiet
Kp needed at Rijeka
9 (extreme storms only) geomagnetic latitude 45.0°
Cloud cover tonight
32% average lowest 0%
Dark sky
6:05 pm – 5:30 am Sun 12° below the horizon
Aurora probability in view now
0% NOAA OVATION, 30–90 min ahead
Moon
100% lit Full Moon

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Tonight in Rijeka

Rijeka sits at a geomagnetic latitude of 45.0° N, so the aurora is only seen here in extreme Kp 9 storms, and then mostly by cameras. Tonight's NOAA forecast peaks at Kp 3 (quiet) during the dark hours, far below that.

Open-Meteo expects about 32% cloud cover on average between 8 pm and 6 am local time, with 5 of 10 dark hours mostly clear (30% cloud or less).

The Moon is 100% illuminated (full moon), bright enough to wash out a faint aurora, so only a stronger display will stand out. For the best view look north, low on the horizon, from somewhere away from street lights.

Right now NOAA's OVATION model gives up to 0% chance of aurora in the part of the sky visible from Rijeka. OVATION is a short-range nowcast (30 to 90 minutes ahead), useful for deciding whether to step outside now.

Local timeKp forecastCloud coverAurora chance
Sun 8 pm2100%—
Sun 9 pm2100%—
Sun 10 pm247%—
Sun 11 pm233%—
Mon 12 am244%—
Mon 1 am30%—
Mon 2 am30%—
Mon 3 am30%—
Mon 4 am20%—
Mon 5 am20%—

3-day Kp forecast

None of the next 3 days reaches the Kp 9 that Rijeka needs. Kp is a global 0–9 index of geomagnetic activity, issued in 3-hour blocks (UTC); NOAA forecasts beyond 24 hours are uncertain, because storms are triggered by solar eruptions that take 1–3 days to arrive.

Day (UTC)Max KpLevelEnough for Rijeka?
2026-10-252quiet—
2026-10-263quiet—
2026-10-271.7quiet—

Why Rijeka needs Kp 9

The aurora forms in an oval around the geomagnetic pole, which sits in the Canadian Arctic (about 80.8° N, 72.8° W), not at the geographic pole. That is why the Kp a city needs depends on its geomagnetic rather than its geographic latitude. At Kp 0 the oval's edge is near 66° geomagnetic; each step of Kp pushes it roughly 2° toward the equator.

Rijeka is at 45.0° geomagnetic, far enough from the pole that only extreme (Kp 9, G5) storms like May 2024 bring the aurora into view, and then mostly to cameras.

Aurora forecast for nearby cities

More sky and weather

Data: NOAA SWPC (Kp, OVATION), Open-Meteo, GeoNames.