Planning a trip to see the northern lights is mostly a question of timing and place. Lumavik helps with both.
Before you book, the dark-hours calendar on lumavik.org shows which months your destination is dark enough to see anything, and the geomagnetic latitude calculator explains why one town sees aurora more often than another at the same map latitude.
Once you are there, the iPhone app gives you one chance score for tonight at your exact spot (Unlikely, Low, Possible or Likely), the current Kp index and a 3-day forecast in 3-hour blocks. The Now view of the aurora oval map uses the NOAA OVATION model. Cloud cover is not modelled.
Arm an alert for your location and Lumavik sends a push when the aurora is likely near you, so you can stay warm indoors until it is worth going out. A red night-vision theme keeps your eyes dark-adapted once you are outside.
The forecast, the map and one alert location are free. Lumavik Pro adds several saved locations and custom alert thresholds. All data comes from the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center.
We wanted an aurora forecast that says plainly when a night is not worth going out, and names the reason: low activity, bright nights, distance from the oval or stale data.