Northern Lights Forecast for Vancouver

Northern Lights in Vancouver

Vancouver sits at 49°N on the Pacific coast of British Columbia. The aurora here is rare. It takes a G2 moderate storm for anything to reach the Lower Mainland, and what arrives is usually a glow or a low arc in the north. From November to January the city gets only about a fifth of the possible sunshine.

The North Shore Mountains across Burrard Inlet

The mountains rise straight across the inlet to 1,200 to 1,450 m, so from downtown and the North Shore the low northern sky is behind them. On a weak night the aurora has been spotted from Coal Harbour just above the mountains, barely visible to the eye, though a phone in night mode picks up more. In the very strongest storms, on a clear night, it has been overhead and photographed across the city. See how to photograph the aurora with an iPhone.

The Cypress Mountain lookout faces south over the city, the wrong way.

Spanish Banks, Iona Beach and Boundary Bay

• Spanish Banks and Locarno Beach, on the west side, give a wide low horizon north across English Bay. The west end by Pacific Spirit Park is darkest.
• Iona Beach in Richmond, beside the airport, has a jetty running nearly 4 km into the Strait of Georgia and a low horizon over the water. The park gates close in the evening at set seasonal hours.
• Boundary Bay in Delta has a low horizon in every direction and a long unlit dyke.

Porteau Cove, Pitt Lake and McDonald Park

Porteau Cove Provincial Park, 38 km north on the Sea-to-Sky Highway, looks straight up Howe Sound to the north. Parking is limited, the day-use area closes at 11 pm, and BC Parks does not allow campground access for aurora watching.

Pitt Lake and Grant Narrows in Pitt Meadows, about 40 km east of downtown, are dark and quiet. The nearest dark-sky site is McDonald Park in Abbotsford, a Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Dark Sky Preserve about 70 km east in the Fraser Valley.