Storms of 1932

G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm of April 7, 1932

April 7 to 8, 1932 · 27 hours

A G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm began April 7, 1932, reached Kp 5+ and lasted 27 hours, with a daily Ap as high as 38; at that Kp the aurora may be seen from about 58 degrees geomagnetic latitude.

The Kp through the storm

Began Apr 7, 00:00 UTC, peaked in the block from Apr 7, 00:00 UTC, ended Apr 8, 03:00 UTC.

From 00 UT the day before to the end of the day after. Blocks in the storm are colored by level; the rest are gray.

The storm

Peak Kp
5+ (5.33)
NOAA level
G1 Minor
Duration
27 hours
Highest daily Ap
38
Highest 3-hour ap
56
Rank since 1932
2,162 of 4,139

How far south the aurora could have been seen

At Kp 5+ NOAA’s scales put the aurora’s reach at about 58 degrees geomagnetic latitude: 50°N in the central US, 49°N in the eastern US, 53°N in the western US and 59°N in northern Europe.

NOAA says a G1 storm’s aurora commonly visible at high latitudes: northern Michigan and Maine.

US cities within reach, the southernmost first

  • Anchorage, AK 61.9° geomag.

1 US cities of 150,000 people or more sit at or poleward of that line. Low on the northern horizon under a dark, clear sky; not a record of sightings.

Tonight’s aurora forecast

Day by day

The daily Ap is the mean of the day’s eight three-hour ap values.

UT dayDaily ApHighest Kp that day
April 7, 1932385+
April 8, 1932215

More

The storm before, Apr 4The storm after, Apr 13Every storm of 1932The strongest on recordThis day in weather historyTonight’s aurora forecast

Sources

Kp and ap from GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Geomagnetic Observatory Niemegk, licensed CC BY 4.0: Matzka, J., Stolle, C., Yamazaki, Y., Bronkalla, O. and Morschhauser, A., 2021, The geomagnetic Kp index and derived indices of geomagnetic activity, Space Weather, doi:10.1029/2020SW002641; data doi:10.5880/Kp.0001. Storms, levels and aurora reach worked out by WeatherOverTime from those values and NOAA’s space weather scales. Definitive through August 31, 2026; later values are preliminary. Rebuilt 2026-09-24.