Most meteor showers demand a 2 a.m. wake-up call. The Draconids are breaking that mold.

Will the weather allow you to see the meteor shower?

When is the meteor shower? 

This meteor shower peaks Thursday into the early morning hours of Friday, but there is some good news. The "main maximum" peak of the shower happens at 9 p.m. EDT, much earlier than most meteor showers. If you have to pick a time to go out, this is it.

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(MORE: The best way to watch a meteor shower)

It is earlier because the Draconids’ radiant point, near the constellation Draco the Dragon, sits high in the sky during evening hours for Northern Hemisphere viewers, rather than climbing after midnight like most showers do. 

This is the year to view this meteor shower because the new moon arrives Saturday. This means the sky is moonless, and even faint, fast-fading meteors should be easier to catch. 

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Will the weather cooperate?

More good news: most of the country will be able to see this event. The map below shows the cloud cover for the Lower 48, and apart from Southeast, the mid-Atlantic and parts of the Northern Tier of the country, there should be meteors visible.

If you want more for your specific area, here is the 10-day forecast for your area. 

Tips and pointers

Don't expect a meteor storm. The Draconids typically produce a modest five to 10 meteors an hour under dark skies, and no major outburst is forecast for 2026. 

But this shower has a track record of defying expectations. Tied to the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, the Draconids have erupted into dramatic outbursts before. This includes the legendary 2011 and 2018 events, when hundreds of meteors occurred an hour. There have also been thousands an hour in historic storms decades earlier. Nobody can rule out a surprise encore.

The streaks themselves tend to be slow and graceful compared to faster showers like the Perseids, giving viewers a better shot at tracking one across the sky before it fades.

To catch the show, get away from city lights, let your eyes adjust to the dark for about 20 minutes, and look generally toward the northern sky after sunset. No telescope, no binoculars, 

And for once, no alarm clock required.