Can you see the northern lights in Ballincollig in July?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Ballincollig have civil darkness, and 3% of past July days reached Kp 6.

How dark is Ballincollig in July?

Ballincollig averages 6.2 hours of civil night a night in July 2027, from 5 h 37 min on the 1st to 7 h on the last night.

How cloudy is Ballincollig in July?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Ballincollig's 1 degree cell 72% mean cloud in July, against 70% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in July 2027 for aurora in Ballincollig?

By darkness and moon alone, Jul 31, with 3 h 49 min of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Ballincollig. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.

Is July or August better in Ballincollig?

By civil night times the clear share, July scores 1.7 hours at Ballincollig and August 2.4. August comes out ahead.

Ballincollig · July 2027

Northern lights in Ballincollig in July 2027

Answer

July gives Ballincollig 6.1 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 11th darkest of its 12 months, under 72% mean cloud. 3% of July days since 1996 reached Kp 6, enough for the oval edge to reach Ballincollig.

6.2 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 51.88, -8.58; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

July against the rest of the year

3.9

3.2

3.3

3.0

2.1

1.7

2.4

3.2

3.8

4.3

4.1

July cloud at Ballincollig averages 72% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 2 points cloudier than its yearly mean. April is Ballincollig's clearest month at 66%. By civil night times clear sky, July scores 1.7 hours at Ballincollig, 11th of 12. Cork, 8 km away, averages the same 72%.

Civil night at Ballincollig starts July at 5 h 37 min and reaches 7 h by July 31 as the nights lengthen by 1.4 hours. No night keeps the 10 PM to 2 AM window fully dark at Ballincollig. The sun never reaches 18 degrees down, so Ballincollig gets no astronomical night in July.

July night by night

July opens toward a new moon on Jul 4, with full moon on Jul 18, in Europe/Dublin dates. Ballincollig gets 90 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: Jul 31 (3 h 49 min), Jul 30 (3 h 47 min), Jul 29 (3 h 22 min).

1
7% lit
4.1 h
2
2% lit
5.2 h
3
0% lit
5.7 h
4
1% lit
5.7 h
New
5
5% lit
5.5 h
6
12% lit
5.2 h
7
20% lit
4.9 h
8
30% lit
4.7 h
9
41% lit
4.5 h
10
52% lit
4.3 h
11
63% lit
4.0 h
12
72% lit
3.7 h
13
81% lit
3.3 h
14
88% lit
2.7 h
15
93% lit
1.9 h
16
97% lit
0.9 h
17
100% lit
0.0 h
18
100% lit
0.0 h
Full
19
98% lit
0.0 h
20
95% lit
0.0 h
21
91% lit
0.2 h
22
84% lit
0.4 h
23
77% lit
0.7 h
24
68% lit
0.9 h
25
58% lit
1.1 h
26
47% lit
1.5 h
27
37% lit
1.9 h
28
26% lit
2.5 h
29
17% lit
3.4 h
30
9% lit
4.6 h
31
3% lit
6.0 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 Julys

Ballincollig needs Kp 6 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 26 of the 930 July days from 1996 to 2025 (3%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 9th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 9%. Ballincollig sits at 55.0 degrees geomagnetic. By SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 6, and aurora is usually visible on the northern horizon at G1 (Kp 5) or less.

July across Ireland

No month-page town in Ireland has more civil night on July 15 than Ballincollig; the national median is 6.0 hours. Coming from June (5.5 hours at Ballincollig), July adds darkness, and the nights keep growing into August (8.0 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on July 15 and July cloud, month-page towns in Ireland
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Ballincollig	6.1 h	72%
Cork	6.1 h	72%
Limerick	5.9 h	80%
Dublin	5.8 h	78%

Darkness and moon, every night

Ballincollig, July 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
Thu Jul 1	5 h 37 min	0 min	4 h 8 min	3 h 10 min	7%
Fri Jul 2	5 h 39 min	0 min	5 h 10 min	3 h 11 min	2%
Sat Jul 3	5 h 40 min	0 min	5 h 40 min	3 h 11 min	0%
Sun Jul 4	5 h 42 min	0 min	5 h 42 min	3 h 12 min	1%
Mon Jul 5	5 h 43 min	0 min	5 h 30 min	2 h 59 min	5%
Tue Jul 6	5 h 45 min	0 min	5 h 11 min	2 h 39 min	12%
Wed Jul 7	5 h 47 min	0 min	4 h 56 min	2 h 23 min	20%
Thu Jul 8	5 h 49 min	0 min	4 h 43 min	2 h 8 min	30%
Fri Jul 9	5 h 52 min	0 min	4 h 31 min	1 h 55 min	41%
Sat Jul 10	5 h 54 min	0 min	4 h 18 min	1 h 41 min	52%
Sun Jul 11	5 h 56 min	0 min	4 h 2 min	1 h 24 min	63%
Mon Jul 12	5 h 59 min	0 min	3 h 43 min	1 h 3 min	72%
Tue Jul 13	6 h 1 min	0 min	3 h 17 min	36 min	81%
Wed Jul 14	6 h 4 min	0 min	2 h 41 min	0 min	88%
Thu Jul 15	6 h 7 min	0 min	1 h 54 min	0 min	93%
Fri Jul 16	6 h 10 min	0 min	55 min	0 min	97%
Sat Jul 17	6 h 12 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sun Jul 18	6 h 15 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Mon Jul 19	6 h 18 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	98%
Tue Jul 20	6 h 22 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	95%
Wed Jul 21	6 h 25 min	0 min	14 min	14 min	91%
Thu Jul 22	6 h 28 min	0 min	26 min	26 min	84%
Fri Jul 23	6 h 31 min	0 min	39 min	39 min	77%
Sat Jul 24	6 h 35 min	0 min	53 min	53 min	68%
Sun Jul 25	6 h 38 min	37 min	1 h 8 min	1 h 8 min	58%
Mon Jul 26	6 h 42 min	1 h 3 min	1 h 28 min	1 h 28 min	47%
Tue Jul 27	6 h 45 min	1 h 22 min	1 h 53 min	1 h 53 min	37%
Wed Jul 28	6 h 49 min	1 h 37 min	2 h 30 min	2 h 30 min	26%
Thu Jul 29	6 h 52 min	1 h 51 min	3 h 22 min	3 h 22 min	17%
Fri Jul 30	6 h 56 min	2 h 3 min	4 h 34 min	3 h 47 min	9%
Sat Jul 31	7 h	2 h 14 min	6 h 3 min	3 h 49 min	3%

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

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Ballincollig in July?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Ballincollig have civil darkness, and 3% of past July days reached Kp 6.
How dark is Ballincollig in July?: Ballincollig averages 6.2 hours of civil night a night in July 2027, from 5 h 37 min on the 1st to 7 h on the last night.
How cloudy is Ballincollig in July?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Ballincollig's 1 degree cell 72% mean cloud in July, against 70% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in July 2027 for aurora in Ballincollig?: By darkness and moon alone, Jul 31, with 3 h 49 min of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Ballincollig. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is July or August better in Ballincollig?: By civil night times the clear share, July scores 1.7 hours at Ballincollig and August 2.4. August 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.