PolarForecast started with a frozen camera tripod, a terrible forecast, and a cloudless night wasted in Tromsø. We knew there had to be a better way. Two years later, we're the forecast 200,000 aurora chasers rely on every year.
NOAA publishes space weather data freely. The problem was never the data — it was the translation. Raw satellite telemetry doesn't tell a first-time traveller whether to drive out at midnight or go to sleep. That gap is what PolarForecast was built to close.
We believe in transparency. Every number on PolarForecast traces back to a primary source — NOAA's SWPC, the DSCOVR satellite, NASA, or ESA. If the forecast is poor, we say so. We don't manufacture optimism.
The core forecast will always be free. Premium features fund the infrastructure. The lights belong to everyone.
Built PolarForecast solo — combining a long-standing obsession with the northern lights and a background in web technology. Every design choice, data integration, and editorial piece on this site was made with genuine care for the people using it.
info@polarforecast.com →Every measurement on PolarForecast is sourced from institutional scientific data. No black boxes, no proprietary models — you can verify every number.
KP index, 3-day geomagnetic forecasts, and real-time alert thresholds. The world's primary civil space weather authority.
Real-time solar wind speed, density, and Bz from 1.5 million km upstream of Earth. The only early-warning system for incoming geomagnetic storms.
Geostationary satellite data for solar flare classification. X-class flares precede major CME events by 1–3 days, giving us advance storm warning.
The German Research Centre for Geosciences maintains the official Kp index derivation methodology and provides historical data for calibration.
Location-specific cloud cover forecasts layered with geomagnetic data to produce a combined viewing probability — not just raw KP.
Supplemental solar activity monitoring and CME propagation modelling for cross-validation of NOAA forecasts.
Live KP index, solar wind, cloud cover, and viewing probability — all in one place, always free.