Centre-Val de Loire

Northern lights in Tours tonight

Real-time aurora forecast for Tours (Centre-Val de Loire) - latitude 47.39° N, estimated Kp threshold 8.

Kp index

4.3

unsettled

Hemispheric power

North21GW

South22GW

Source: app.pulsar-si.com

Tonight in Tours

Very unlikely

Based on Kp 4.3 and Tours's latitude.

Seeing the northern lights from Tours

Tours, at 47.4° N in the Loire valley, has an extended northern horizon over the Loire plain. Auroras become visible from Kp 7. The châteaux and Touraine countryside provide attractive observation settings, with moderate light pollution outside the urban area. May 2024 enabled rare photos along the Loire banks.

Observation conditions in Tours

Bortle 7 over Tours. The Loches forest (Bortle 4-5, 40 km south) and the Loire banks toward Amboise give access to darker skies. The Loire-Anjou-Touraine regional park (Bortle 4, 60 km west) is an excellent spot. The Sologne, further east, offers one of the best Centre region skies despite its proximity to Orléans.

Recent auroras from Tours

10-11 May 2024 (Kp 9): red and green aurora photographed from the Loire banks and the Vouvray slopes. 24 March 2024 (Kp 8): sightings from the Sologne. 5 November 2023 (Kp 7): observations from the Loches forest.

What Tours asks of the sky

Geomagnetic latitude

49.3°

21 of 40

Kp index required

Kp 8

2 / 12 months

Dark nights per year

365

365 / 365

Tours ranks 21 of the 40 cities we track, at 49.3° geomagnetic. Strasbourg sits 0° higher , Dijon follows at 48.5°.

The threshold to clear here is Kp 8. Twelve months of archive hold 2 nights, the most recent on 19 January 2026, and 48 since 1994. Orléans and Le Mans and Nantes share exactly the same threshold.

Tours keeps full astronomical night all 365 nights of the year, which every city north of the Loire loses for part of the summer.

How to read the Kp index →

Local conditions

Light pollution

Bortle 7 of 9

SQM 18.93 mag/arcsec²

Nearest darker sky

Saint-Symphorien

2 km · Bortle 2

Kp forecast, next 3 days

Source: app.pulsar-si.com. For an aurora to be visible from Tours, Kp must exceed 8.

Wed 19 Aug

1.1

Expected max Kp

Thu 20 Aug

1.5

Expected max Kp

Fri 21 Aug

1.7

Expected max Kp

Frequently asked questions

Can you see the northern lights from Tours?

Yes, but rarely. Typically a Kp index of ≥ 8 is needed for the aurora to become visible from Tours (latitude 47.4° N). Major geomagnetic storms (Kp 8-9) that reach this latitude happen only a handful of times per 11-year solar cycle.

What Kp index is needed to see auroras from Tours?

The approximate Kp threshold for Tours is 8. Below that, auroras stay confined to high latitudes (Norway, Scotland). Above it, they gradually extend southward. A Kp of 9 gives a fair chance, 10 a strong one.

When is the best time to watch from Tours?

Auroras are a nighttime phenomenon, best observed between roughly 10 PM and 2 AM local time, when the geomagnetic pole is tilted towards the Earth's night side. In practice, peaks depend on when a coronal mass ejection arrives - activity can spike at any hour.

Where around Tours offers better conditions?

Move at least 40-60 km north of Tours to escape urban light pollution and gain 1-2 magnitudes of limiting magnitude.

Nearby cities

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