G5 (Extreme) Geomagnetic Storm of November 12, 1960
A G5 (extreme) geomagnetic storm began November 12, 1960, reached Kp 9 and lasted 99 hours, with a daily Ap as high as 280; at that Kp the aurora may be seen from about 40 degrees geomagnetic latitude.
The Kp through the storm
Began Nov 12, 12:00 UTC, peaked in the block from Nov 13, 06:00 UTC, ended Nov 16, 15:00 UTC.
The storm
- Peak Kp
- 9 (9.00)
- NOAA level
- G5 Extreme
- Duration
- 99 hours
- Highest daily Ap
- 280
- Highest 3-hour ap
- 400
- Rank since 1932
- 1 of 4,139
How far south the aurora could have been seen
At Kp 9 NOAA’s scales put the aurora’s reach at about 40 degrees geomagnetic latitude: 32°N in the central US, 31°N in the eastern US, 34°N in the western US and 40°N in northern Europe.
NOAA says a G5 storm’s aurora has been seen as low as Florida and southern Texas.
US cities within reach, the southernmost first
- Anaheim, CA 40.0° geomag.
- Corona, CA 40.1° geomag.
- Los Angeles, CA 40.2° geomag.
- Riverside, CA 40.2° geomag.
- Moreno Valley, CA 40.2° geomag.
- Chandler, AZ 40.2° geomag.
- Oxnard, CA 40.2° geomag.
- Hollywood, CA 40.2° geomag.
- Pomona, CA 40.3° geomag.
- Gilbert, AZ 40.3° geomag.
164 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.
Day by day
The daily Ap is the mean of the day’s eight three-hour ap values.
| UT day | Daily Ap | Highest Kp that day |
|---|---|---|
| November 12, 1960 | 67 | 8 |
| November 13, 1960 | 280 | 9 |
| November 14, 1960 | 49 | 7+ |
| November 15, 1960 | 69 | 8- |
| November 16, 1960 | 94 | 8+ |
More
The storm before, Nov 4The storm after, Nov 21Every 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 2026-09-25.