G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm of October 14, 1974

October 14 to 18, 1974 · 87 hours

A G3 (strong) geomagnetic storm began October 14, 1974, reached Kp 7 and lasted 87 hours, with a daily Ap as high as 68; at that Kp the aurora may be seen from about 50 degrees geomagnetic latitude.

The Kp through the storm

Began Oct 14, 15:00 UTC, peaked in the block from Oct 16, 21:00 UTC, ended Oct 18, 06:00 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: 7 (7.00)
NOAA level: G3 Strong
Duration: 87 hours
Highest daily Ap: 68
Highest 3-hour ap: 132
Rank since 1932: 401 of 4,139

How far south the aurora could have been seen

At Kp 7 NOAA’s scales put the aurora’s reach at about 50 degrees geomagnetic latitude: 42°N in the central US, 41°N in the eastern US, 44°N in the western US and 51°N in northern Europe.

NOAA says a G3 storm’s aurora has been seen as low as Illinois and Oregon.

US cities within reach, the southernmost first

Washington Heights, NY 50.0° geomag.
The Bronx, NY 50.0° geomag.
Fort Wayne, IN 50.1° geomag.
Des Moines, IA 50.1° geomag.
Yonkers, NY 50.1° geomag.
Akron, OH 50.2° geomag.
Salem, OR 50.3° geomag.
Aurora, IL 50.6° geomag.
Cleveland, OH 50.6° geomag.
Toledo, OH 50.7° geomag.

32 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 day	Daily Ap	Highest Kp that day
October 14, 1974	30	6
October 15, 1974	50	6
October 16, 1974	68	7
October 17, 1974	47	6
October 18, 1974	43	6-

The storm before, Oct 13 The storm after, Oct 18 Every storm of 1974 The strongest on record This day in weather history Tonight’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 2026-09-29.