Stargazing near Salt Lake City tonight

Antelope Island and Weber County North Fork are IDA-certified inside 90 minutes.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near Salt Lake City tonight

★ Best tonight

North Fork Park

Northern UT · Bortle 3 · 62 km away

Fair Short 3h window, otherwise mean cloud 71%. Worth a look if you're nearby.

Best clear window: Fri 10:00 p.m. – Sat 12:00 a.m. (3h, 8% 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)

North Fork Park Lost on windowMeanCloudPct to Antelope Island (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
Antelope Island Fair (3) 3h 12% 2% 66% 4 34.1 km
★ North Fork Park Fair (3) 3h 8% 7% 71% 3 62.1 km
City of Rocks No-go (1) 0h — 76% 97% 2 211 km
Dinosaur NM No-go (1) 0h — 81% 98% 2 264.2 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 Salt Lake City

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: 71% (min 7%). 🔭 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

Antelope Island

Great Salt Lake, UT · Bortle 4 · 34 km away

Fair Short 3h window, otherwise mean cloud 66%. Worth a look if you're nearby.

Best clear window: Fri 9:00 p.m. – Fri 11:00 p.m. (3h, 12% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

North Fork Park

Northern UT · Bortle 3 · 62 km away

Fair Short 3h window, otherwise mean cloud 71%. Worth a look if you're nearby.

Best clear window: Fri 10:00 p.m. – Sat 12:00 a.m. (3h, 8% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near Salt Lake City tonight?

Tonight's best site near Salt Lake City is North Fork Park (62 km away). Verdict: Fair. Short 3h window, otherwise mean cloud 71%. Worth a look if you're nearby.

What is the closest dark-sky site to Salt Lake City?

Antelope Island is the closest, about 34 km from Salt Lake City (Bortle 4).

Can I see the Milky Way from Salt Lake City?

Salt Lake City'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 North Fork Park, City of Rocks, Dinosaur NM.

When are northern lights visible near Salt Lake City?

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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