Stargazing near Miami tonight

The Everglades and Big Cypress preserves are the closest Bortle 3–4 escapes.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near Miami tonight

★ Best tonight

Stephen Foster SP

Okefenokee, GA · Bortle 2 · 602 km away

Excellent 7h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 23%.

Best clear window: Fri 8:00 p.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (7h, 5% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

How we picked tonight's best site

Show ranking debug panel (4 candidates, 7-level tie-break)

Stephen Foster SP Lost on verdictRank to Big Cypress (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
Big Cypress Poor (2) 1h 13% 9% 66% 3 85 km
Everglades Fair (3) 2h 10% 4% 71% 4 88.4 km
Kissimmee Prairie Excellent (5) 6h 1% 0% 6% 3 223.2 km
★ Stephen Foster SP Excellent (5) 7h 5% 1% 23% 2 602.2 km

★ = chosen by tie-break ladder. Lower cloud %, lower Bortle, lower distance = better. Higher windowHours = better.

Tie-break ladder (in order)

  1. verdictRank (desc) — Excellent > Good > Fair > Poor > No-go
  2. windowHours (desc) — Longer clear window wins
  3. windowMeanCloudPct (asc) — Cleaner sky inside the window
  4. tonightMinCloudPct (asc) — Best moment of the night
  5. tonightMeanCloudPct (asc) — Overall sky quality
  6. bortle (asc) — Darker site wins
  7. distanceKm (asc) — Closer wins last

Same metrics are exposed at snapshot.json as bestTonight.tieBreak and closestSites[].tieBreak.

Understand tonight's forecast for Miami

Each verdict above blends four limiting factors. Tap a card to learn what it measures, where the number comes from, and how to use it.

📖 How to read the forecast Plain-English breakdown of every row, color and score. 🌙 Moon & tonight's window New moon · 2% illuminated ☁️ Cloud cover & sky score Mean cloud tonight: 23% (min 1%). 🔭 Transparency How clean the air column is — controls how faint a star you can see. 🔥 Smoke & AQI Wildfire smoke and PM2.5 from US-AQI — kills transparency before clouds do.

All 4 closest sites, ranked by distance

Big Cypress

Southern FL · Bortle 3 · 85 km away

Poor No sustained clear window; brief gaps possible (min cloud 9%).

Best clear window: Fri 9:00 p.m. – Fri 9:00 p.m. (1h, 13% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Everglades

Southern FL · Bortle 4 · 88 km away

Fair Short 2h window, otherwise mean cloud 71%. Worth a look if you're nearby.

Best clear window: Sat 1:00 a.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (2h, 10% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Kissimmee Prairie

Central FL · Bortle 3 · 223 km away

Excellent 6h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 6%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Fri 10:00 p.m. (6h, 1% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Stephen Foster SP

Okefenokee, GA · Bortle 2 · 602 km away

Excellent 7h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 23%.

Best clear window: Fri 8:00 p.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (7h, 5% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near Miami tonight?

Tonight's best site near Miami is Stephen Foster SP (602 km away). Verdict: Excellent. 7h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 23%.

What is the closest dark-sky site to Miami?

Big Cypress is the closest, about 85 km from Miami (Bortle 3).

Can I see the Milky Way from Miami?

Miami's urban sky is too light-polluted for naked-eye Milky Way. For a clear view of the galactic band, drive to a Bortle 1–3 site such as Big Cypress, Kissimmee Prairie, Stephen Foster SP.

When are northern lights visible near Miami?

Aurora is visible during geomagnetic storms with Kp ≥ 5–6. Check the live aurora outlook and head to the closest dark site with a clean northern horizon.

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