Can you see the northern lights in Eagle River in April?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 30 of 30 nights at Eagle River have civil darkness, and 82% of past April days reached Kp 2.

How dark is Eagle River in April?

Eagle River averages 7.3 hours of civil night a night in April 2027, from 8 h 55 min on the 1st to 5 h 41 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Eagle River in April?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Eagle River's 1 degree cell 72% mean cloud in April, against 74% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in April 2027 for aurora in Eagle River?

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

Is April or May better in Eagle River?

By civil night times the clear share, April scores 2.1 hours at Eagle River and May 0.8. April comes out ahead.

Eagle River · April 2027

Northern lights in Eagle River in April 2027

Answer

April gives Eagle River 7.4 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 8th darkest of its 12 months, under 72% mean cloud. 82% of April days since 1996 reached Kp 2, enough for the oval edge to reach Eagle River.

7.3 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 61.32, -149.57; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

April against the rest of the year

5.4

4.1

3.9

2.1

0.8

0.0

0.3

1.3

2.1

2.9

4.5

4.6

April cloud at Eagle River averages 72% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 2 points clearer than its yearly mean. March is Eagle River's clearest month at 63%. By civil night times clear sky, April scores 2.1 hours at Eagle River, 8th of 12. Anchorage, 21 km away, averages the same 72%.

Civil night at Eagle River starts April at 8 h 55 min and reaches 5 h 41 min by April 30, 3.2 hours shorter. The 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on 10 of 30 nights. The sun never reaches 18 degrees down, so Eagle River gets no astronomical night in April.

April night by night

April opens toward a new moon on Apr 6, with full moon on Apr 20, in America/Anchorage dates. Eagle River gets 121 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: Apr 1 (4 h), Apr 2 (4 h), Apr 3 (4 h).

1
21% lit
8.9 h
2
14% lit
8.8 h
3
8% lit
8.7 h
4
3% lit
8.6 h
5
1% lit
8.5 h
6
0% lit
8.4 h
New
7
2% lit
6.9 h
8
7% lit
5.1 h
9
13% lit
3.2 h
10
22% lit
1.6 h
11
32% lit
0.7 h
12
43% lit
0.3 h
13
54% lit
0.1 h
14
66% lit
0.0 h
15
76% lit
0.0 h
16
85% lit
0.0 h
17
92% lit
0.0 h
18
97% lit
0.0 h
19
99% lit
0.0 h
20
100% lit
0.1 h
Full
21
98% lit
1.8 h
22
94% lit
3.4 h
23
88% lit
4.9 h
24
81% lit
5.8 h
25
73% lit
6.0 h
26
64% lit
6.1 h
27
55% lit
6.0 h
28
46% lit
5.9 h
29
36% lit
5.8 h
30
27% lit
5.7 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 Aprils

Eagle River needs Kp 2 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 735 of the 900 April days from 1996 to 2025 (82%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 4th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 12%. Eagle River sits at 62.1 degrees geomagnetic, inside SWPC's 60 to 75 degree band, where aurora can be seen on more than half of all nights. No storm is needed: by SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 2.

April across United States

Eagle River ranks 8th in United States for civil night on April 15, behind Buffalo at 9.5 hours. Coming from March (10.6 hours at Eagle River), April loses darkness, and May brings shorter nights (3.7 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on April 15 and April cloud, month-page towns in United States
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Buffalo	9.5 h	69%
Portland, Maine	9.4 h	62%
Minneapolis	9.3 h	61%
Duluth	9.2 h	64%
Fargo	9.2 h	61%
Seattle	9.1 h	75%
Juneau	7.9 h	75%
Eagle River	7.4 h	72%
Anchorage	7.4 h	72%
Fairbanks	6.6 h	59%

Darkness and moon, every night

Eagle River, April 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 Apr 1	8 h 55 min	4 h 39 min	8 h 55 min	4 h	21%
Fri Apr 2	8 h 48 min	4 h 29 min	8 h 48 min	4 h	14%
Sat Apr 3	8 h 42 min	4 h 18 min	8 h 42 min	4 h	8%
Sun Apr 4	8 h 36 min	4 h 7 min	8 h 36 min	4 h	3%
Mon Apr 5	8 h 29 min	3 h 55 min	8 h 29 min	4 h	1%
Tue Apr 6	8 h 23 min	3 h 43 min	8 h 23 min	4 h	0%
Wed Apr 7	8 h 17 min	3 h 30 min	6 h 55 min	2 h 47 min	2%
Thu Apr 8	8 h 10 min	3 h 17 min	5 h 5 min	1 h	7%
Fri Apr 9	8 h 4 min	3 h 2 min	3 h 12 min	0 min	13%
Sat Apr 10	7 h 57 min	2 h 47 min	1 h 35 min	0 min	22%
Sun Apr 11	7 h 51 min	2 h 30 min	39 min	0 min	32%
Mon Apr 12	7 h 44 min	2 h 10 min	17 min	0 min	43%
Tue Apr 13	7 h 38 min	1 h 48 min	7 min	0 min	54%
Wed Apr 14	7 h 31 min	1 h 20 min	1 min	0 min	66%
Thu Apr 15	7 h 25 min	34 min	0 min	0 min	76%
Fri Apr 16	7 h 18 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	85%
Sat Apr 17	7 h 11 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	92%
Sun Apr 18	7 h 5 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	97%
Mon Apr 19	6 h 58 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Tue Apr 20	6 h 51 min	0 min	5 min	5 min	100%
Wed Apr 21	6 h 44 min	0 min	1 h 45 min	1 h 45 min	98%
Thu Apr 22	6 h 37 min	0 min	3 h 26 min	3 h 22 min	94%
Fri Apr 23	6 h 30 min	0 min	4 h 56 min	3 h 19 min	88%
Sat Apr 24	6 h 23 min	0 min	5 h 48 min	3 h 16 min	81%
Sun Apr 25	6 h 16 min	0 min	6 h 2 min	3 h 13 min	73%
Mon Apr 26	6 h 9 min	0 min	6 h 4 min	3 h 9 min	64%
Tue Apr 27	6 h 2 min	0 min	6 h 1 min	3 h 6 min	55%
Wed Apr 28	5 h 55 min	0 min	5 h 55 min	3 h 2 min	46%
Thu Apr 29	5 h 48 min	0 min	5 h 48 min	2 h 59 min	36%
Fri Apr 30	5 h 41 min	0 min	5 h 41 min	2 h 55 min	27%

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

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Eagle River in April?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 30 of 30 nights at Eagle River have civil darkness, and 82% of past April days reached Kp 2.
How dark is Eagle River in April?: Eagle River averages 7.3 hours of civil night a night in April 2027, from 8 h 55 min on the 1st to 5 h 41 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Eagle River in April?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Eagle River's 1 degree cell 72% mean cloud in April, against 74% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in April 2027 for aurora in Eagle River?: By darkness and moon alone, Apr 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Eagle River. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is April or May better in Eagle River?: By civil night times the clear share, April scores 2.1 hours at Eagle River and May 0.8. April 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.