Ranked from our live local readings. Not a travel brochure. Quiet nights will show many NOs; the lower half of this page still stands.
Usual destinations (does not vanish on a quiet night)
Oval most nights. Alaska Interior (Fairbanks area), northern Minnesota, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and northern Maine sit closer to the auroral oval. They still have clouds, twilight, and no-show nights. They are the default US places people travel for aurora, not a promise for tonight.
Event nights only. Colorado, Ohio, Illinois / Chicago, Indiana, and similar mid-latitude states need a strong storm. Most nights are no. When they go, the useful sky is usually the northern part of the state, away from the biggest light dome — not downtown.
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