Can you see the northern lights in Grand Forks in January?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Grand Forks have civil darkness, and 6% of past January days reached Kp 5.

How dark is Grand Forks in January?

Grand Forks averages 13.8 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 14 h 13 min on the 1st to 13 h 16 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Grand Forks in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Grand Forks's 1 degree cell 61% mean cloud in January, against 59% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Grand Forks?

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

Is January or February better in Grand Forks?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 5.4 hours at Grand Forks and February 5.3. January comes out ahead.

Grand Forks · January 2027

Northern lights in Grand Forks in January 2027

Answer

January gives Grand Forks 13.9 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 61% mean cloud. 6% of January days since 1996 reached Kp 5, enough for the oval edge to reach Grand Forks.

13.8 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 47.93, -97.03; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

5.4

5.3

3.8

3.4

2.9

2.7

3.5

4.3

4.9

4.6

January cloud at Grand Forks averages 61% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 2 points cloudier than its yearly mean. July is Grand Forks's clearest month at 50%. That makes January the best month of Grand Forks's year by civil night times clear sky, 5.4 hours. Fargo, 118 km away, averages 62%, cloudier by 1 points.

Civil night at Grand Forks starts January at 14 h 13 min and reaches 13 h 16 min by January 31, 0.9 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 11.4 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/Chicago dates. Grand Forks gets 237 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
26% lit
10.5 h
2
18% lit
11.6 h
3
11% lit
12.7 h
4
6% lit
13.7 h
5
2% lit
14.2 h
6
0% lit
14.1 h
7
0% lit
14.1 h
New
8
2% lit
13.9 h
9
5% lit
12.8 h
10
10% lit
11.6 h
11
17% lit
10.5 h
12
25% lit
9.3 h
13
34% lit
8.2 h
14
44% lit
7.0 h
15
54% lit
5.7 h
16
65% lit
4.4 h
17
75% lit
3.0 h
18
85% lit
1.7 h
19
92% lit
0.6 h
20
98% lit
0.0 h
21
100% lit
0.0 h
22
99% lit
0.0 h
Full
23
96% lit
1.3 h
24
90% lit
2.7 h
25
82% lit
4.0 h
26
72% lit
5.3 h
27
62% lit
6.5 h
28
52% lit
7.7 h
29
42% lit
8.9 h
30
33% lit
10.0 h
31
24% lit
11.0 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

Grand Forks needs Kp 5 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 58 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (6%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, one of the three quietest months for that level; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 6%. Grand Forks sits at 56.1 degrees geomagnetic. By SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 5, and aurora is usually visible on the northern horizon at G1 (Kp 5) or less.

January across United States

Grand Forks ranks 5th in United States for civil night on January 15, behind Fairbanks at 16.3 hours. Coming from December (14.3 hours at Grand Forks), January loses darkness, and February brings shorter nights (12.5 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%
Anchorage	15.5 h	65%
Eagle River	15.5 h	65%
Juneau	15.1 h	80%
Grand Forks	13.9 h	61%
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

Grand Forks, 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	14 h 13 min	11 h 40 min	10 h 28 min	4 h	26%
Sat Jan 2	14 h 12 min	11 h 39 min	11 h 37 min	4 h	18%
Sun Jan 3	14 h 11 min	11 h 38 min	12 h 42 min	4 h	11%
Mon Jan 4	14 h 10 min	11 h 37 min	13 h 40 min	4 h	6%
Tue Jan 5	14 h 9 min	11 h 36 min	14 h 9 min	4 h	2%
Wed Jan 6	14 h 8 min	11 h 35 min	14 h 8 min	4 h	0%
Thu Jan 7	14 h 6 min	11 h 34 min	14 h 6 min	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	14 h 5 min	11 h 33 min	13 h 57 min	4 h	2%
Sat Jan 9	14 h 3 min	11 h 31 min	12 h 47 min	4 h	5%
Sun Jan 10	14 h 2 min	11 h 30 min	11 h 38 min	4 h	10%
Mon Jan 11	14 h	11 h 29 min	10 h 30 min	4 h	17%
Tue Jan 12	13 h 59 min	11 h 27 min	9 h 21 min	3 h 46 min	25%
Wed Jan 13	13 h 57 min	11 h 26 min	8 h 11 min	2 h 36 min	34%
Thu Jan 14	13 h 55 min	11 h 24 min	6 h 59 min	1 h 24 min	44%
Fri Jan 15	13 h 53 min	11 h 22 min	5 h 42 min	8 min	54%
Sat Jan 16	13 h 51 min	11 h 21 min	4 h 22 min	0 min	65%
Sun Jan 17	13 h 49 min	11 h 19 min	3 h	0 min	75%
Mon Jan 18	13 h 47 min	11 h 17 min	1 h 43 min	0 min	85%
Tue Jan 19	13 h 45 min	11 h 15 min	36 min	0 min	92%
Wed Jan 20	13 h 43 min	11 h 14 min	0 min	0 min	98%
Thu Jan 21	13 h 41 min	11 h 12 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Fri Jan 22	13 h 39 min	11 h 10 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Sat Jan 23	13 h 36 min	11 h 8 min	1 h 20 min	0 min	96%
Sun Jan 24	13 h 34 min	11 h 5 min	2 h 42 min	0 min	90%
Mon Jan 25	13 h 32 min	11 h 3 min	4 h	0 min	82%
Tue Jan 26	13 h 29 min	11 h 1 min	5 h 16 min	1 h 12 min	72%
Wed Jan 27	13 h 27 min	10 h 59 min	6 h 30 min	2 h 27 min	62%
Thu Jan 28	13 h 24 min	10 h 57 min	7 h 42 min	3 h 41 min	52%
Fri Jan 29	13 h 22 min	10 h 54 min	8 h 53 min	4 h	42%
Sat Jan 30	13 h 19 min	10 h 52 min	10 h	4 h	33%
Sun Jan 31	13 h 16 min	10 h 49 min	11 h	4 h	24%

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

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Grand Forks in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Grand Forks have civil darkness, and 6% of past January days reached Kp 5.
How dark is Grand Forks in January?: Grand Forks averages 13.8 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 14 h 13 min on the 1st to 13 h 16 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Grand Forks in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Grand Forks's 1 degree cell 61% mean cloud in January, against 59% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Grand Forks?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Grand Forks. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Grand Forks?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 5.4 hours at Grand Forks and February 5.3. 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.