Can you see the southern lights in Frankston East in March?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Frankston East have civil darkness.

How dark is Frankston East in March?

Frankston East averages 10.7 hours of civil night a night in March 2027, from 10 h 5 min on the 1st to 11 h 20 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Frankston East in March?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Frankston East's 1 degree cell 55% mean cloud in March, against 60% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in March 2027 for aurora in Frankston East?

By darkness and moon alone, Mar 3, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Frankston East. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.

Is March or April better in Frankston East?

By civil night times the clear share, March scores 4.8 hours at Frankston East and April 4.9. April comes out ahead.

Frankston East · March 2027

Southern lights in Frankston East in March 2027

Answer

March gives Frankston East 10.7 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 7th darkest of its 12 months, under 55% mean cloud.

10.7 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for -38.13, 145.13; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

March against the rest of the year

3.9

4.4

4.8

4.9

4.8

4.6

4.5

4.3

4.1

3.4

3.5

March cloud at Frankston East averages 55% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 5 points clearer than its yearly mean. January is Frankston East's clearest month at 53%. By civil night times clear sky, March scores 4.8 hours at Frankston East, 3rd of 12. Anadyr, 11,782 km away, averages 59%, cloudier by 4 points.

Civil night at Frankston East starts March at 10 h 5 min and reaches 11 h 20 min by March 31 as the nights lengthen by 1.3 hours. SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on every night. True astronomical darkness, the sun 18 degrees down, lasts 8.6 hours on the 15th.

March night by night

March opens toward a new moon on Mar 8, with full moon on Mar 22, in Australia/Melbourne dates. Frankston East gets 166 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: Mar 3 (4 h), Mar 4 (4 h), Mar 5 (4 h).

1
38% lit
4.3 h
2
29% lit
5.3 h
3
21% lit
6.3 h
4
14% lit
7.3 h
5
8% lit
8.3 h
6
3% lit
9.4 h
7
1% lit
10.3 h
8
0% lit
10.4 h
New
9
1% lit
10.4 h
10
5% lit
10.4 h
11
11% lit
10.0 h
12
18% lit
9.5 h
13
27% lit
8.9 h
14
37% lit
8.2 h
15
49% lit
7.3 h
16
60% lit
6.2 h
17
71% lit
5.0 h
18
81% lit
3.7 h
19
89% lit
2.5 h
20
95% lit
1.3 h
21
99% lit
0.1 h
22
100% lit
0.0 h
Full
23
98% lit
0.0 h
24
95% lit
0.1 h
25
89% lit
0.7 h
26
82% lit
1.3 h
27
73% lit
2.0 h
28
64% lit
2.9 h
29
55% lit
3.8 h
30
45% lit
4.8 h
31
36% lit
5.8 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 Marchs

No whole Kp puts the average oval edge over Frankston East by SWPC's rule, so the GFZ record has no threshold to count for March. Frankston East sits at 45.1 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.

March across Australia

Coming from February (9.5 hours at Frankston East), March adds darkness, and the nights keep growing into April (11.9 hours on the 15th). The March equinox falls on March 21, 07:25 Frankston East time, inside the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.

Darkness and moon, every night

Frankston East, March 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 Mar 1	10 h 5 min	7 h 54 min	4 h 19 min	2 h 49 min	38%
Tue Mar 2	10 h 7 min	7 h 57 min	5 h 16 min	3 h 44 min	29%
Wed Mar 3	10 h 10 min	8 h	6 h 16 min	4 h	21%
Thu Mar 4	10 h 12 min	8 h 3 min	7 h 18 min	4 h	14%
Fri Mar 5	10 h 15 min	8 h 6 min	8 h 21 min	4 h	8%
Sat Mar 6	10 h 18 min	8 h 9 min	9 h 23 min	4 h	3%
Sun Mar 7	10 h 20 min	8 h 12 min	10 h 20 min	4 h	1%
Mon Mar 8	10 h 23 min	8 h 15 min	10 h 23 min	4 h	0%
Tue Mar 9	10 h 25 min	8 h 18 min	10 h 25 min	4 h	1%
Wed Mar 10	10 h 28 min	8 h 21 min	10 h 25 min	4 h	5%
Thu Mar 11	10 h 30 min	8 h 24 min	10 h	4 h	11%
Fri Mar 12	10 h 33 min	8 h 27 min	9 h 30 min	4 h	18%
Sat Mar 13	10 h 36 min	8 h 30 min	8 h 54 min	4 h	27%
Sun Mar 14	10 h 38 min	8 h 32 min	8 h 9 min	3 h 21 min	37%
Mon Mar 15	10 h 41 min	8 h 35 min	7 h 15 min	2 h 26 min	49%
Tue Mar 16	10 h 43 min	8 h 38 min	6 h 10 min	1 h 20 min	60%
Wed Mar 17	10 h 46 min	8 h 41 min	4 h 58 min	7 min	71%
Thu Mar 18	10 h 48 min	8 h 44 min	3 h 43 min	0 min	81%
Fri Mar 19	10 h 51 min	8 h 46 min	2 h 29 min	0 min	89%
Sat Mar 20	10 h 53 min	8 h 49 min	1 h 16 min	0 min	95%
Sun Mar 21	10 h 56 min	8 h 52 min	6 min	0 min	99%
Mon Mar 22	10 h 58 min	8 h 54 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Tue Mar 23	11 h 1 min	8 h 57 min	0 min	0 min	98%
Wed Mar 24	11 h 3 min	9 h	9 min	0 min	95%
Thu Mar 25	11 h 6 min	9 h 2 min	42 min	0 min	89%
Fri Mar 26	11 h 8 min	9 h 5 min	1 h 20 min	0 min	82%
Sat Mar 27	11 h 11 min	9 h 8 min	2 h 3 min	0 min	73%
Sun Mar 28	11 h 13 min	9 h 10 min	2 h 52 min	40 min	64%
Mon Mar 29	11 h 15 min	9 h 13 min	3 h 47 min	1 h 34 min	55%
Tue Mar 30	11 h 18 min	9 h 15 min	4 h 46 min	2 h 32 min	45%
Wed Mar 31	11 h 20 min	9 h 18 min	5 h 48 min	3 h 32 min	36%

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

Questions

Can you see the southern lights in Frankston East in March?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Frankston East have civil darkness.
How dark is Frankston East in March?: Frankston East averages 10.7 hours of civil night a night in March 2027, from 10 h 5 min on the 1st to 11 h 20 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Frankston East in March?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Frankston East's 1 degree cell 55% mean cloud in March, against 60% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in March 2027 for aurora in Frankston East?: By darkness and moon alone, Mar 3, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Frankston East. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is March or April better in Frankston East?: By civil night times the clear share, March scores 4.8 hours at Frankston East and April 4.9. 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.