Can you see the southern lights in Colac in February?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 28 of 28 nights at Colac have civil darkness.

How dark is Colac in February?

Colac averages 9.5 hours of civil night a night in February 2027, from 8 h 55 min on the 1st to 10 h 2 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Colac in February?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Colac's 1 degree cell 58% mean cloud in February, against 60% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in February 2027 for aurora in Colac?

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

Is February or March better in Colac?

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

Colac · February 2027

Southern lights in Colac in February 2027

Answer

February gives Colac 9.5 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 9th darkest of its 12 months, under 58% mean cloud.

9.5 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for -38.34, 143.58; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

February against the rest of the year

3.9

4.0

4.6

4.9

5.0

5.5

5.0

4.7

4.1

3.8

3.1

3.4

February cloud at Colac averages 58% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 2 points clearer than its yearly mean. January is Colac's clearest month at 54%. By civil night times clear sky, February scores 4.0 hours at Colac, 8th of 12. Anadyr, 11,837 km away, averages 60%, cloudier by 2 points.

Civil night at Colac starts February at 8 h 55 min and reaches 10 h 2 min by February 28 as the nights lengthen by 1.1 hours. SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on every night. True astronomical darkness, the sun 18 degrees down, lasts 7.2 hours on the 15th.

February night by night

February opens toward a new moon on Feb 7, with full moon on Feb 21, in Australia/Melbourne dates. Colac gets 136 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: Feb 1 (4 h), Feb 2 (4 h), Feb 3 (4 h).

1
22% lit
5.0 h
2
15% lit
5.8 h
3
9% lit
6.8 h
4
4% lit
7.8 h
5
1% lit
8.8 h
6
0% lit
9.1 h
7
1% lit
9.2 h
New
8
3% lit
9.1 h
9
8% lit
8.7 h
10
14% lit
8.4 h
11
22% lit
8.0 h
12
31% lit
7.6 h
13
41% lit
7.0 h
14
52% lit
6.4 h
15
64% lit
5.6 h
16
74% lit
4.6 h
17
84% lit
3.5 h
18
92% lit
2.2 h
19
97% lit
0.9 h
20
100% lit
0.0 h
21
100% lit
0.0 h
Full
22
97% lit
0.1 h
23
91% lit
0.5 h
24
84% lit
1.0 h
25
76% lit
1.5 h
26
66% lit
2.0 h
27
57% lit
2.7 h
28
47% lit
3.5 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 Februarys

No whole Kp puts the average oval edge over Colac by SWPC's rule, so the GFZ record has no threshold to count for February. Colac sits at 45.5 degrees geomagnetic. The lowest NOAA storm level whose typical viewing latitude reaches it is G4 (Kp = 8, including a 9-). Even Kp 9 does not put the average oval edge overhead by SWPC's rule.

February across Australia

Coming from January (8.4 hours at Colac), February adds darkness, and the nights keep growing into March (10.7 hours on the 15th).

Darkness and moon, every night

Colac, February 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
Mon Feb 1	8 h 55 min	6 h 26 min	4 h 58 min	4 h	22%
Tue Feb 2	8 h 57 min	6 h 29 min	5 h 51 min	4 h	15%
Wed Feb 3	8 h 59 min	6 h 32 min	6 h 48 min	4 h	9%
Thu Feb 4	9 h 2 min	6 h 36 min	7 h 49 min	4 h	4%
Fri Feb 5	9 h 4 min	6 h 39 min	8 h 51 min	4 h	1%
Sat Feb 6	9 h 6 min	6 h 42 min	9 h 6 min	4 h	0%
Sun Feb 7	9 h 9 min	6 h 45 min	9 h 9 min	4 h	1%
Mon Feb 8	9 h 11 min	6 h 48 min	9 h 4 min	4 h	3%
Tue Feb 9	9 h 14 min	6 h 51 min	8 h 43 min	4 h	8%
Wed Feb 10	9 h 16 min	6 h 54 min	8 h 22 min	4 h	14%
Thu Feb 11	9 h 19 min	6 h 57 min	7 h 59 min	3 h 40 min	22%
Fri Feb 12	9 h 21 min	7 h 1 min	7 h 34 min	3 h 13 min	31%
Sat Feb 13	9 h 23 min	7 h 4 min	7 h 3 min	2 h 41 min	41%
Sun Feb 14	9 h 26 min	7 h 7 min	6 h 25 min	2 h 2 min	52%
Mon Feb 15	9 h 28 min	7 h 10 min	5 h 37 min	1 h 12 min	64%
Tue Feb 16	9 h 31 min	7 h 13 min	4 h 37 min	11 min	74%
Wed Feb 17	9 h 33 min	7 h 16 min	3 h 27 min	0 min	84%
Thu Feb 18	9 h 36 min	7 h 19 min	2 h 10 min	0 min	92%
Fri Feb 19	9 h 39 min	7 h 23 min	53 min	0 min	97%
Sat Feb 20	9 h 41 min	7 h 26 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sun Feb 21	9 h 44 min	7 h 29 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Mon Feb 22	9 h 46 min	7 h 32 min	4 min	0 min	97%
Tue Feb 23	9 h 49 min	7 h 35 min	31 min	0 min	91%
Wed Feb 24	9 h 51 min	7 h 38 min	59 min	0 min	84%
Thu Feb 25	9 h 54 min	7 h 41 min	1 h 30 min	12 min	76%
Fri Feb 26	9 h 57 min	7 h 44 min	2 h 3 min	44 min	66%
Sat Feb 27	9 h 59 min	7 h 47 min	2 h 42 min	1 h 21 min	57%
Sun Feb 28	10 h 2 min	7 h 50 min	3 h 27 min	2 h 5 min	47%

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

Questions

Can you see the southern lights in Colac in February?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 28 of 28 nights at Colac have civil darkness.
How dark is Colac in February?: Colac averages 9.5 hours of civil night a night in February 2027, from 8 h 55 min on the 1st to 10 h 2 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Colac in February?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Colac's 1 degree cell 58% mean cloud in February, against 60% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in February 2027 for aurora in Colac?: By darkness and moon alone, Feb 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Colac. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is February or March better in Colac?: By civil night times the clear share, February scores 4.0 hours at Colac and March 4.6. March 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.