Stargazing near San Francisco Bay Area tonight

Pinnacles NP is the closest IDA park; Lassen and eastern Sierra are darker.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near San Francisco Bay Area tonight

★ Best tonight

Death Valley

Mojave, CA/NV · Bortle 1 · 505 km away

Excellent 11h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 0%.

Best clear window: Fri 4:00 p.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (11h, 0% 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)

Death Valley Lost on bortle to Pinnacles (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
Pinnacles Excellent (5) 11h 0% 0% 0% 3 180 km
Massacre Rim Good (4) 4h 2% 0% 37% 1 483 km
★ Death Valley Excellent (5) 11h 0% 0% 0% 1 505.4 km
Crater Lake Poor (2) 1h 2% 2% 81% 2 575.4 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 San Francisco Bay Area

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: 0% (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

Pinnacles

Central CA · Bortle 3 · 180 km away

Excellent 11h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 0%.

Best clear window: Fri 4:00 p.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (11h, 0% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Massacre Rim

NW NV · Bortle 1 · 483 km away

Good 4h clear window during astronomical night, mean cloud 37%.

Best clear window: Fri 4:00 p.m. – Fri 7:00 p.m. (4h, 2% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Death Valley

Mojave, CA/NV · Bortle 1 · 505 km away

Excellent 11h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 0%.

Best clear window: Fri 4:00 p.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (11h, 0% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Crater Lake

SW OR · Bortle 2 · 575 km away

Poor No sustained clear window; brief gaps possible (min cloud 2%).

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Fri 5:00 p.m. (1h, 2% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near San Francisco Bay Area tonight?

Tonight's best site near San Francisco Bay Area is Death Valley (505 km away). Verdict: Excellent. 11h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 0%.

What is the closest dark-sky site to San Francisco Bay Area?

Pinnacles is the closest, about 180 km from San Francisco Bay Area (Bortle 3).

Can I see the Milky Way from San Francisco Bay Area?

San Francisco Bay Area'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 Pinnacles, Massacre Rim, Death Valley, Crater Lake.

When are northern lights visible near San Francisco Bay Area?

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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