Northern Lights Forecast for Portland

Northern Lights in Portland

At 43.7°N on a peninsula in Casco Bay, Portland is a city of about 68,000 with half a million people around it. The aurora shows a few times in an active year, almost always as a glow or arc low in the north. The catch is the map: the ocean is east and south of the city, so the coast gives you dark sky but puts Portland’s own lights in your northern view.

Munjoy Hill and the Western Promenade

A glow on the northern horizon can appear from a dark spot during a G2 moderate storm. A display that stands up over the city takes a G3 strong storm or better. In the strongest storms it has been photographed from Munjoy Hill, the Western Promenade and Evergreen Cemetery inside the city, from Peaks Island, and from Willard Beach in South Portland.

A phone in night mode shows pink and green that the eye misses, since the display is often only a pale band; see how to photograph the aurora with an iPhone.

Bradbury Mountain and Sebago Lake

Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal, about 20 miles north, has open ledges on a 485-foot summit, with the city behind you to the south. Sebago Lake, about 20 miles northwest, is 12 miles long and gives a flat water horizon from its shores. Day-use areas in Maine state parks close at sunset unless posted otherwise.

Cape Elizabeth looks back at the city

Two Lights State Park and Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth, south of the city, face the open Atlantic, but looking north you are looking back toward Portland and South Portland, so a faint glow gets lost in the city light. When the aurora climbs higher, the coast works fine.

Katahdin Woods and Waters and Acadia

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, east of Baxter State Park, has been an International Dark Sky Sanctuary since 2020 and is roughly four hours from Portland. Acadia National Park is about three hours up the coast; its Park Loop Road closes from December 1 to mid-April, though Ocean Drive and Jordan Pond Road stay open, weather permitting. The Maine page covers Aroostook County and the rest of the state.