Northern lights in Soldotna, Alaska
Soldotna's famous salmon runs happen under long summer days of roughly 19 hours of light.
Soldotna
…Checking tonight's sky…
The next three nights
Geomagnetic activity (Kp) forecast for the selected town's dark hours. Kp runs 0–9; how much a town needs depends on its magnetic latitude. New to this? What the Kp index means, in plain words → Nights tagged “outlook” use NOAA’s 27-day outlook where the 3-day forecast doesn’t reach — whole-day values, so treat them as rougher estimates.
What Soldotna needs for a show
Whether aurora reaches a town is mostly a matter of magnetic latitude — distance from the magnetic pole, not the geographic one. Soldotna sits at magnetic latitude 61.0°, which puts it in the Kp 3 band: when the forecast Kp for the dark hours reaches about 3, the oval's southern edge reaches Soldotna and displays can appear low on the northern horizon. At Kp 5 or better, expect the band overhead at times. The same law draws the band on the homepage globe: the oval's edge at magnetic latitude 69 − 3×Kp.
| Magnetic latitude | 61.0° |
|---|---|
| Kp needed (horizon show) | About 3 |
| Kp for a strong overhead show | About 5+ |
| Coordinates | 60.4878°N, 151.0583°W · Southcentral |
Kp is only one of four ingredients in the live call above: cloud cover over the dark hours, the town's actual darkness window, and moonlight all count too. A Kp 5 night under solid cloud is still a no — which is why the verdict, not the index, leads this page.
Soldotna’s aurora season
Soldotna has a real off-season: from about Apr 20 to Aug 22 (125 nights) the sun never dips 18° below the horizon, so it never gets truly dark and aurora can't be seen even when it's active. Outside that stretch, 240 nights in 2027 get a true-dark window.
| Month (2027) | True darkness | Typical dark window, mid-month |
|---|---|---|
| January | Every night | 12 hr 2 min |
| February | Every night | 10 hr 2 min |
| March | Every night | 7 hr 20 min |
| April | 19 of 30 nights | Around the clock |
| May | No true darkness | — |
| June | No true darkness | — |
| July | No true darkness | — |
| August | 9 of 31 nights | — |
| September | Every night | 5 hr 57 min |
| October | Every night | 9 hr 11 min |
| November | Every night | 11 hr 31 min |
| December | Every night | 12 hr 36 min |
True darkness = the sun below −18° (end of astronomical twilight), computed with the standard NOAA solar algorithm for Soldotna’s coordinates. The live call at the top of this page uses tonight's actual window, not these averages.
Soldotna in daylight
Sunrise, sunset, and daylight hours for Soldotna — today or any date — are on our sister site: Soldotna at Alaska Daylight →
On the water nearby
Night fishing or camping out of Soldotna? The nearest tide station is Kenai City Pier (7 mi NW) — tide predictions and minus tides at Alaska Tide Charts.