Northern Lights Forecast for Montreal

Northern Lights in Montreal

Montreal covers most of an island in the St. Lawrence at 45.5°N, in southern Quebec about 250 km upriver from Quebec City. Here the aurora is a rare event. A faint glow low in the north can turn up with a smaller storm, but a display you would notice needs about a G2 moderate geomagnetic storm, and the island’s own light takes a lot of it away.

Île-Perrot, Lachine and the South Shore

On the strongest nights the aurora has been visible across the island, though the light pollution leaves the colours faint. People have photographed it from Île-Perrot, just off the west end, and from Lachine, the east end of Montreal and beside Montmorency metro station in Laval. The Canadian Space Agency has filmed a timelapse of it from Boucherville on the South Shore.

On the island the eye gets little, and a phone in night mode picks up more. See how to photograph the aurora with an iPhone.

Saint-Colomban, Mont-Tremblant and Oka

North-west of the island, the Laurentians get darker the further you drive. Saint-Colomban is about 50 km away, and people there have seen strong colour in the big storms. Mont-Tremblant is about 130 km by Autoroute 15 and Route 117, and the Parc national du Mont-Tremblant beyond it has more than 400 lakes, where a shoreline gives you a horizon clear of trees.

Parc national d’Oka, 40 km west, is less useful than it looks. It lies on the north shore of Lac des Deux Montagnes, so the beach looks south across the water.

Mont-Mégantic, east of Sherbrooke

Near the US border, the Parc national du Mont-Mégantic was recognised in 2007 as the first International Dark Sky Reserve in the world. The ASTROLab at the foot of the mountain runs astronomy evenings. It is two and a half to three hours’ drive from Montreal.