Storms of 1960

G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm of June 6, 1960

June 6, 1960 · 3 hours

A G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm began June 6, 1960, reached Kp 5 and lasted 3 hours, with a daily Ap as high as 25; at that Kp the aurora may be seen from about 60 degrees geomagnetic latitude.

The Kp through the storm

Began Jun 6, 09:00 UTC, peaked in the block from Jun 6, 09:00 UTC, ended Jun 6, 12:00 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 (5.00)
NOAA level
G1 Minor
Duration
3 hours
Highest daily Ap
25
Highest 3-hour ap
48
Rank since 1932
3,513 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 60 degrees geomagnetic latitude: 52°N in the central US, 51°N in the eastern US, 54°N in the western US and 61°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
June 6, 1960255

More

The storm before, Jun 4The storm after, Jun 25Every storm of 1960The 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.