{"id":415774,"date":"2026-01-17T17:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415774\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T17:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:49:14","slug":"northern-lights-could-shine-across-most-of-canada-tonight-including-southern-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415774\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern lights could shine across most of Canada tonight, including southern Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"

You could see the northern lights<\/a> from almost everywhere in Canada tonight, including southern Ontario.<\/p>\n

Some places are expected to get a “more intense” aurora, so here’s what you need to know.<\/p>\n

A northern lights forecast from NOAA<\/a> said geomagnetic storms are likely, which means the aurora could shine over most of Canada on Friday, January 16 and into the overnight hours on Saturday, January 17.<\/p>\n

The aurora is expected to be “more intense” in places like Prince George, Edmonton, Jasper, Calgary, Banff, Saskatoon, Regina, Churchill, and Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

You could also see the northern lights in Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna, Lethbridge, Thunder Bay, Moosonee, Timmins, Quebec City, Saguenay, Labrador City, Happy Valley-Goose Bay and the surrounding areas.<\/p>\n

NOAA’s forecast has a view line that shows how far south the aurora could be seen on the northern horizon.<\/p>\n

Toronto, the GTA, and most of southern Ontario, including Ottawa, are within the view line for Friday night. <\/p>\n

The northern lights could also be visible along the northern horizon in Montreal, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivi\u00e8res, Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton, Charlottetown and nearby areas.<\/p>\n

\"northern Northern lights forecast map for January 16, 2026.NOAA<\/a><\/p>\n

In this forecast map from NOAA, the brightness and location of the aurora are shown as a green oval.<\/p>\n

The aurora is expected to be “more intense” where the green oval is red.<\/p>\n

You can see the northern lights directly overhead in places within the oval, but the aurora can be observed from 1,000 kilometres away when it’s bright, according to NOAA.<\/p>\n

There are aurora viewing tips from the Canadian Space Agency<\/a> to help you see the northern lights.<\/p>\n

Usually, the northern lights appear a few hours after sunset and become more intense around midnight.<\/p>\n

You should find a place with little or no light pollution, according to the Canadian Space Agency.<\/p>\n

If a less intense aurora is forecast, city lights can block your view.<\/p>\n

Then, when you’re in a dark location, you’re being told to look all around because the northern lights can appear anywhere in the sky.<\/p>\n

But if you’re in a place that’s near the view line in NOAA’s forecast, the northern lights will be visible toward the northern horizon.<\/p>\n

You don’t need a telescope or binoculars to see the northern lights.<\/p>\n

Good luck!<\/p>\n

This article’s cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You could see the northern lights from almost everywhere in Canada tonight, including southern Ontario. Some places are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,4942,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-415774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-northern-lights","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}