Can you see the northern lights in Alma in January?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Alma have civil darkness, and 6% of past January days reached Kp 5.

How dark is Alma in January?

Alma averages 13.9 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 14 h 17 min on the 1st to 13 h 19 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Alma in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Alma's 1 degree cell 67% mean cloud in January, against 71% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Alma?

By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Alma. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.

Is January or February better in Alma?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 4.6 hours at Alma and February 4.0. January comes out ahead.

Alma · January 2027

Northern lights in Alma in January 2027

Answer

January gives Alma 13.9 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 67% mean cloud. 6% of January days since 1996 reached Kp 5, enough for the oval edge to reach Alma.

13.9 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 48.55, -71.65; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

4.6

4.0

3.7

2.7

2.1

2.0

2.7

3.6

2.9

2.4

3.6

January cloud at Alma averages 67% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 4 points clearer than its yearly mean. September is Alma's clearest month at 65%. That makes January the best month of Alma's year by civil night times clear sky, 4.6 hours. Saguenay, 45 km away, averages the same 67%.

Civil night at Alma starts January at 14 h 17 min and reaches 13 h 19 min by January 31, 1.0 hours shorter. SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on every night. True astronomical darkness, the sun 18 degrees down, lasts 11.4 hours on the 15th.

January night by night

January opens toward a new moon on Jan 7, with full moon on Jan 22, in America/Toronto dates. Alma gets 238 hours of civil night with the moon below the horizon across the month. The best of them for moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM: Jan 1 (4 h), Jan 2 (4 h), Jan 3 (4 h).

1
27% lit
10.5 h
2
18% lit
11.6 h
3
12% lit
12.7 h
4
6% lit
13.7 h
5
3% lit
14.2 h
6
0% lit
14.2 h
7
0% lit
14.2 h
New
8
2% lit
14.1 h
9
5% lit
12.9 h
10
10% lit
11.8 h
11
16% lit
10.6 h
12
24% lit
9.5 h
13
33% lit
8.3 h
14
43% lit
7.1 h
15
54% lit
5.8 h
16
65% lit
4.5 h
17
75% lit
3.1 h
18
84% lit
1.8 h
19
92% lit
0.6 h
20
97% lit
0.0 h
21
100% lit
0.0 h
22
99% lit
0.0 h
Full
23
96% lit
1.2 h
24
90% lit
2.6 h
25
82% lit
4.0 h
26
73% lit
5.2 h
27
63% lit
6.5 h
28
53% lit
7.7 h
29
43% lit
8.9 h
30
33% lit
10.0 h
31
25% lit
11.0 h

Each cell is the night that starts on that date. Hours are civil-dark time with the moon below the horizon; the green rule scales with them. Green outline: new moon. Bone outline: full moon.

Activity in past Januarys

Alma needs Kp 5 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 58 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (6%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, one of the three quietest months for that level; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 6%. Alma sits at 57.8 degrees geomagnetic. By SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 5, and aurora is usually visible on the northern horizon at G1 (Kp 5) or less.

January across Canada

Alma ranks 17th in Canada for civil night on January 15, behind Yellowknife at 15.8 hours. Coming from December (14.4 hours at Alma), January loses darkness, and February brings shorter nights (12.6 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on January 15 and January cloud, month-page towns in Canada
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Yellowknife	15.8 h	56%
Whitehorse	15.4 h	67%
Fort McMurray	14.8 h	66%
Fort St. John	14.8 h	70%
Grande Prairie	14.6 h	71%
Edmonton	14.5 h	71%
Prince Albert	14.4 h	68%
Lloydminster	14.4 h	70%
Saskatoon	14.3 h	68%
Red Deer	14.3 h	71%
Calgary	14.2 h	70%
Winnipeg	14.1 h	64%
Alma	13.9 h	67%

Darkness and moon, every night

Alma, January 2027: each night from local noon to the next noon
Night	Civil	Astronomical	Moon-free dark	Moon-free, 10 PM to 2 AM	Moon lit
Fri Jan 1	14 h 17 min	11 h 41 min	10 h 28 min	4 h	27%
Sat Jan 2	14 h 16 min	11 h 41 min	11 h 38 min	4 h	18%
Sun Jan 3	14 h 15 min	11 h 40 min	12 h 44 min	4 h	12%
Mon Jan 4	14 h 14 min	11 h 39 min	13 h 42 min	4 h	6%
Tue Jan 5	14 h 13 min	11 h 38 min	14 h 13 min	4 h	3%
Wed Jan 6	14 h 11 min	11 h 37 min	14 h 11 min	4 h	0%
Thu Jan 7	14 h 10 min	11 h 36 min	14 h 10 min	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	14 h 9 min	11 h 34 min	14 h 6 min	4 h	2%
Sat Jan 9	14 h 7 min	11 h 33 min	12 h 56 min	4 h	5%
Sun Jan 10	14 h 6 min	11 h 32 min	11 h 47 min	4 h	10%
Mon Jan 11	14 h 4 min	11 h 30 min	10 h 37 min	4 h	16%
Tue Jan 12	14 h 2 min	11 h 29 min	9 h 28 min	4 h	24%
Wed Jan 13	14 h	11 h 27 min	8 h 17 min	3 h 22 min	33%
Thu Jan 14	13 h 59 min	11 h 26 min	7 h 4 min	2 h 10 min	43%
Fri Jan 15	13 h 57 min	11 h 24 min	5 h 48 min	53 min	54%
Sat Jan 16	13 h 55 min	11 h 22 min	4 h 27 min	0 min	65%
Sun Jan 17	13 h 53 min	11 h 21 min	3 h 4 min	0 min	75%
Mon Jan 18	13 h 51 min	11 h 19 min	1 h 46 min	0 min	84%
Tue Jan 19	13 h 49 min	11 h 17 min	38 min	0 min	92%
Wed Jan 20	13 h 46 min	11 h 15 min	0 min	0 min	97%
Thu Jan 21	13 h 44 min	11 h 13 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Fri Jan 22	13 h 42 min	11 h 11 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Sat Jan 23	13 h 39 min	11 h 9 min	1 h 14 min	0 min	96%
Sun Jan 24	13 h 37 min	11 h 7 min	2 h 37 min	0 min	90%
Mon Jan 25	13 h 35 min	11 h 4 min	3 h 57 min	0 min	82%
Tue Jan 26	13 h 32 min	11 h 2 min	5 h 13 min	26 min	73%
Wed Jan 27	13 h 30 min	11 h	6 h 27 min	1 h 42 min	63%
Thu Jan 28	13 h 27 min	10 h 58 min	7 h 41 min	2 h 56 min	53%
Fri Jan 29	13 h 24 min	10 h 55 min	8 h 52 min	4 h	43%
Sat Jan 30	13 h 22 min	10 h 53 min	10 h	4 h	33%
Sun Jan 31	13 h 19 min	10 h 50 min	11 h 1 min	4 h	25%

Moon lit: SunCalc illuminated fraction at the middle of the 10 PM to 2 AM window.

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Alma in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Alma have civil darkness, and 6% of past January days reached Kp 5.
How dark is Alma in January?: Alma averages 13.9 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 14 h 17 min on the 1st to 13 h 19 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Alma in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Alma's 1 degree cell 67% mean cloud in January, against 71% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Alma?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Alma. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Alma?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 4.6 hours at Alma and February 4.0. January comes out ahead.

Sources and verification

SunCalchttps://github.com/mourner/suncalc
NASA POWER climatologyhttps://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/services/api/temporal/climatology/
GFZ Potsdam Kp indexhttps://kp.gfz.de/en/data
NOAA SWPC, Tips on viewing the aurorahttps://www.spaceweather.gov/content/tips-viewing-aurora

Quoted figures last checked against their sources on 2026-09-30; next review 2026-12-31. Computed figures come from SunCalc and the IGRF-14 dipole as described in the methodology. Every quote is listed in the sources ledger.