Stargazing near Portland tonight

Prineville Reservoir and Oregon Outback Sanctuary — the world's largest — are within reach.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near Portland tonight

★ Best tonight

Olympic NP

NW WA · Bortle 3 · 264 km away

Good 5h clear window during astronomical night, mean cloud 32%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Fri 9:00 p.m. (5h, 2% 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)

Olympic NP Lost on verdictRank to Goldendale Observatory (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
Goldendale Observatory Poor (2) 1h 0% 0% 86% 3 149.1 km
Cottonwood Canyon Poor (2) 1h 9% 9% 78% 3 172.6 km
Prineville Reservoir Poor (2) 1h 4% 1% 68% 2 214.9 km
★ Olympic NP Good (4) 5h 2% 0% 32% 3 263.9 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 Portland

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: 32% (min 0%). 🔭 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

Goldendale Observatory

South-central WA · Bortle 3 · 149 km away

Poor No sustained clear window; brief gaps possible (min cloud 0%).

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Fri 5:00 p.m. (1h, 0% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Cottonwood Canyon

North-central OR · Bortle 3 · 173 km away

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

Best clear window: Fri 6:00 p.m. – Fri 6:00 p.m. (1h, 9% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Prineville Reservoir

Central OR · Bortle 2 · 215 km away

Poor No sustained clear window; brief gaps possible (min cloud 1%).

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Fri 5:00 p.m. (1h, 4% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Olympic NP

NW WA · Bortle 3 · 264 km away

Good 5h clear window during astronomical night, mean cloud 32%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Fri 9:00 p.m. (5h, 2% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near Portland tonight?

Tonight's best site near Portland is Olympic NP (264 km away). Verdict: Good. 5h clear window during astronomical night, mean cloud 32%.

What is the closest dark-sky site to Portland?

Goldendale Observatory is the closest, about 149 km from Portland (Bortle 3).

Can I see the Milky Way from Portland?

Portland'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 Goldendale Observatory, Cottonwood Canyon, Prineville Reservoir, Olympic NP.

When are northern lights visible near Portland?

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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