Stargazing near Vancouver tonight

The Salish Sea coast is Bortle 6–8, but Bortle 3 mountain skies are 90 minutes north on the Sea-to-Sky.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near Vancouver tonight

★ Best tonight

North Cascades

Northern WA · Bortle 2 · 154 km away

Excellent 7h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 11%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Fri 11:00 p.m. (7h, 1% 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 Cascades Lost on tonightMeanCloudPct to McDonald Park (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
McDonald Park Excellent (5) 7h 1% 0% 30% 5 89 km
Cattle Point Good (4) 5h 1% 0% 45% 6 94.8 km
★ North Cascades Excellent (5) 7h 1% 0% 11% 2 154.4 km
Olympic NP Good (4) 5h 2% 0% 32% 3 168.4 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 Vancouver

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: 11% (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

McDonald Park

Abbotsford, BC · Bortle 5 · 89 km away

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

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Fri 11:00 p.m. (7h, 1% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Cattle Point

Victoria, BC · Bortle 6 · 95 km away

Good 5h clear window during astronomical night, mean cloud 45%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Fri 9:00 p.m. (5h, 1% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

North Cascades

Northern WA · Bortle 2 · 154 km away

Excellent 7h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 11%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Fri 11:00 p.m. (7h, 1% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Olympic NP

NW WA · Bortle 3 · 168 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 Vancouver tonight?

Tonight's best site near Vancouver is North Cascades (154 km away). Verdict: Excellent. 7h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 11%.

What is the closest dark-sky site to Vancouver?

McDonald Park is the closest, about 89 km from Vancouver (Bortle 5).

Can I see the Milky Way from Vancouver?

Vancouver'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 Cascades, Olympic NP.

When are northern lights visible near Vancouver?

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.

Other Ontario cities