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

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Eagle River have civil darkness, and 78% of past January days reached Kp 2.

How dark is Eagle River in January?

Eagle River averages 15.4 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 16 h 10 min on the 1st to 14 h 28 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Eagle River in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Eagle River's 1 degree cell 65% mean cloud in January, against 74% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

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

By darkness and moon alone, Jan 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 January or February better in Eagle River?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 5.4 hours at Eagle River and February 4.1. January comes out ahead.

Eagle River · January 2027

Northern lights in Eagle River in January 2027

Answer

January gives Eagle River 15.5 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 65% mean cloud. 78% of January days since 1996 reached Kp 2, enough for the oval edge to reach Eagle River.

15.4 h

civil night, average night

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

January 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

January cloud at Eagle River averages 65% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 9 points clearer than its yearly mean. March is Eagle River's clearest month at 63%. That makes January the best month of Eagle River's year by civil night times clear sky, 5.4 hours. Anchorage, 21 km away, averages the same 65%.

Civil night at Eagle River starts January at 16 h 10 min and reaches 14 h 28 min by January 31, 1.7 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 11.9 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/Anchorage dates. Eagle River gets 273 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
25% lit
13.0 h
2
17% lit
14.7 h
3
11% lit
16.1 h
4
6% lit
16.1 h
5
2% lit
16.0 h
6
0% lit
16.0 h
7
0% lit
15.9 h
New
8
2% lit
15.9 h
9
6% lit
14.6 h
10
11% lit
13.0 h
11
18% lit
11.6 h
12
26% lit
10.1 h
13
35% lit
8.6 h
14
45% lit
7.0 h
15
56% lit
5.3 h
16
66% lit
3.5 h
17
77% lit
1.6 h
18
86% lit
0.0 h
19
93% lit
0.0 h
20
98% lit
0.0 h
21
100% lit
0.0 h
22
99% lit
0.0 h
Full
23
95% lit
1.6 h
24
89% lit
3.4 h
25
80% lit
5.0 h
26
71% lit
6.6 h
27
61% lit
8.2 h
28
51% lit
9.8 h
29
41% lit
11.4 h
30
32% lit
13.1 h
31
23% lit
14.5 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 Januarys

Eagle River needs Kp 2 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 730 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (78%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 6th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 6%. 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.

January across United States

Eagle River ranks 2nd in United States for civil night on January 15, behind Fairbanks at 16.3 hours. Coming from December (16.3 hours at Eagle River), January loses darkness, and February brings shorter nights (13.2 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on January 15 and January cloud, month-page towns in United States
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Fairbanks	16.3 h	55%
Eagle River	15.5 h	65%
Anchorage	15.5 h	65%
Juneau	15.1 h	80%
Seattle	13.9 h	80%
Duluth	13.8 h	63%
Fargo	13.8 h	62%
Minneapolis	13.6 h	62%
Buffalo	13.5 h	85%
Portland, Maine	13.5 h	65%

Darkness and moon, every night

Eagle River, 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	16 h 10 min	12 h 26 min	13 h 2 min	4 h	25%
Sat Jan 2	16 h 8 min	12 h 24 min	14 h 41 min	4 h	17%
Sun Jan 3	16 h 6 min	12 h 23 min	16 h 6 min	4 h	11%
Mon Jan 4	16 h 4 min	12 h 21 min	16 h 4 min	4 h	6%
Tue Jan 5	16 h 2 min	12 h 20 min	16 h 2 min	4 h	2%
Wed Jan 6	15 h 59 min	12 h 18 min	15 h 59 min	4 h	0%
Thu Jan 7	15 h 57 min	12 h 16 min	15 h 57 min	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	15 h 54 min	12 h 14 min	15 h 54 min	4 h	2%
Sat Jan 9	15 h 52 min	12 h 12 min	14 h 33 min	4 h	6%
Sun Jan 10	15 h 49 min	12 h 9 min	13 h 1 min	4 h	11%
Mon Jan 11	15 h 46 min	12 h 7 min	11 h 33 min	4 h	18%
Tue Jan 12	15 h 43 min	12 h 5 min	10 h 5 min	3 h 7 min	26%
Wed Jan 13	15 h 40 min	12 h 2 min	8 h 35 min	1 h 38 min	35%
Thu Jan 14	15 h 36 min	11 h 59 min	7 h	5 min	45%
Fri Jan 15	15 h 33 min	11 h 57 min	5 h 19 min	0 min	56%
Sat Jan 16	15 h 29 min	11 h 54 min	3 h 29 min	0 min	66%
Sun Jan 17	15 h 26 min	11 h 51 min	1 h 34 min	0 min	77%
Mon Jan 18	15 h 22 min	11 h 48 min	0 min	0 min	86%
Tue Jan 19	15 h 19 min	11 h 45 min	0 min	0 min	93%
Wed Jan 20	15 h 15 min	11 h 42 min	0 min	0 min	98%
Thu Jan 21	15 h 11 min	11 h 38 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Fri Jan 22	15 h 7 min	11 h 35 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Sat Jan 23	15 h 3 min	11 h 31 min	1 h 39 min	0 min	95%
Sun Jan 24	14 h 59 min	11 h 28 min	3 h 23 min	0 min	89%
Mon Jan 25	14 h 54 min	11 h 24 min	5 h 1 min	44 min	80%
Tue Jan 26	14 h 50 min	11 h 21 min	6 h 37 min	2 h 22 min	71%
Wed Jan 27	14 h 46 min	11 h 17 min	8 h 12 min	3 h 59 min	61%
Thu Jan 28	14 h 41 min	11 h 13 min	9 h 48 min	4 h	51%
Fri Jan 29	14 h 37 min	11 h 9 min	11 h 27 min	4 h	41%
Sat Jan 30	14 h 32 min	11 h 5 min	13 h 5 min	4 h	32%
Sun Jan 31	14 h 28 min	11 h 1 min	14 h 28 min	4 h	23%

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 January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Eagle River have civil darkness, and 78% of past January days reached Kp 2.
How dark is Eagle River in January?: Eagle River averages 15.4 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 16 h 10 min on the 1st to 14 h 28 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Eagle River in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Eagle River's 1 degree cell 65% mean cloud in January, against 74% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Eagle River?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 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 January or February better in Eagle River?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 5.4 hours at Eagle River and February 4.1. 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.