British Columbia, Canada
Northern lights in Fort St. John
Answer
Tonight
Darkness window open
Civil darkness has begun.
Observed 11:55 UTC, forecast 13:26 UTC, 91 min lead
Clock times in America/Dawson_Creek
Storm level needed
Fort St. John sits at 56.25N 120.85W in British Columbia, Canada. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts Fort St. John at 61.7 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 5.4 degrees closer to the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. Fort St. John sits at 61.7 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 3.
"The best place to observe the aurora is under an oval shaped region between the north and south latitudes of about 60 and 75 degrees. At these polar latitudes, the aurora can be observed more than half of the nights of a given year."
The nearest other Glow towns are Grande Prairie (176 km), Prince George (286 km), Terrace (526 km). Grande Prairie sits 0.8 degrees lower on the dipole and needs the same Kp.
Approximate: SWPC calls its Kp to latitude rule an average, and a centered dipole can differ by a degree from fuller field models. How the storm level is matched
The year in darkness
Every night of 2026 at Fort St. John has some civil darkness; the shortest month sample still has 4.0 hours. Glow's dark season, at least 4 hours of civil night between 18:00 and 06:00, runs from June 27 to June 13 across New Year, 352 days in 2026. Fort St. John's longest night of the year, Dec 19, has 15 h 23 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at Fort St. John, when the sun is lowest, falls at 00:59 on local clocks on December 15 and 01:04 on June 15. That is 59 min after midnight in December and 1 h 4 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at Fort St. John the darkest hour sits late in SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window.
Month by month
| Month | Night | Civil | Cloud | Clear dark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 14.8 h | 11.7 h | 70% | 4.4 h | |
| Feb | 12.9 h | 10.0 h | 67% | 4.3 h | |
| Mar | 10.8 h | 7.8 h | 68% | 3.5 h | |
| Apr | 8.2 h | 4.3 h | 67% | 2.7 h | |
| May | 5.7 h | 0.0 h | 66% | 1.9 h | |
| Jun | 4.0 h | 0.0 h | 67% | 1.3 h | |
| Jul | 4.9 h | 0.0 h | 63% | 1.8 h | |
| Aug | 7.3 h | 2.4 h | 63% | 2.7 h | |
| Sep | 9.9 h | 6.7 h | 65% | 3.5 h | |
| Oct | 12.2 h | 9.3 h | 71% | 3.5 h | |
| Nov | 14.3 h | 11.3 h | 73% | 3.9 h | |
| Dec | 15.3 h | 12.2 h | 69% | 4.8 hbest |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at Fort St. John with 15.4 hours of civil night and June the lightest at 4.0. Across the year Fort St. John gets 3,656 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at Fort St. John, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 12.2 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around Fort St. John at 67% across the year, from 63% in July to 73% in November. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night Fort St. John averages 67%, against a median of 67% for Glow towns in Canada.
Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky gives December the best score, 4.8 hours, ahead of January at 4.4. Fort St. John's equinox months score 3.5 in March and 3.5 in September, the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.
Kp history
From 1996 to 2025, the GFZ Potsdam record shows a 3-hour Kp of 3 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge over Fort St. John, on 50% of days. At Fort St. John's level the share runs from 43% in June to 58% in March, while storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 10%.
Share of UTC days in each calendar month whose highest 3-hour Kp reached Kp 3. Kp history by year
Moon, next 30 nights
Over the 30 nights from Oct 1, the new moon falls on Oct 10 and the full moon on Oct 25, in America/Dawson_Creek dates. 15 of the 30 nights at Fort St. John have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 6 has the most at 4 h. Tonight Fort St. John has 11 h 10 min of civil night, 54 min of it with the moon down.
- 1
64% lit
0.9 h
- 2
53% lit
2.1 h
- 3
42% lit
3.6 h
- 4
31% lit
5.2 h
- 5
21% lit
6.8 h
- 6
13% lit
8.4 h
- 7
6% lit
9.9 h
- 8
2% lit
11.4 h
- 9
0% lit
11.8 h
- 10
1% lit
11.8 h
- 11
3% lit
11.9 h
- 12
7% lit
12.0 h
- 13
13% lit
12.1 h
- 14
20% lit
12.2 h
- 15
28% lit
11.5 h
- 16
37% lit
10.5 h
- 17
46% lit
9.3 h
- 18
56% lit
8.0 h
- 19
65% lit
6.7 h
- 20
74% lit
5.3 h
- 21
83% lit
4.0 h
- 22
90% lit
2.6 h
- 23
95% lit
1.2 h
- 24
99% lit
0.0 h
- 25
100% lit
0.0 h
- 26
98% lit
0.0 h
- 27
94% lit
0.0 h
- 28
87% lit
0.0 h
- 29
78% lit
1.0 h
- 30
68% lit
2.4 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.
Within Canada
Among the 19 Glow towns in British Columbia, Fort St. John ranks 1st by dipole latitude against a regional median of 55.2 degrees, the highest of them. Among the 130 Glow towns in Canada, Fort St. John ranks 4th by dipole latitude against a national median of 55.3 degrees; Yellowknife sits highest at 68.5. On December 15 Fort St. John gets 15.4 hours of civil night, 3rd longest of 130 in Canada, where the median is 14.2.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Fort St. John?
- Fort St. John sits at 61.7 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 3. Clear, dark sky over Fort St. John still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in Fort St. John?
- Every night at Fort St. John has civil darkness. Tonight has 11 h 10 min, and December 15 has 15.4 hours.
- What is the best month for aurora in Fort St. John?
- December, by civil night at Fort St. John times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is Fort St. John in the dark months?
- About 67% mean cloud amount over Fort St. John in the months with at least 4 hours of civil night, from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology.
- How often is activity high enough for Fort St. John?
- A 3-hour Kp of 3 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge overhead, occurred on 50% of days from 1996 to 2025 in the GFZ Potsdam record.
Nearby and related
Nearest Glow towns
Fort St. John by month
Region and comparisons