Alberta, Canada
Northern lights in Grande Prairie
Answer
Tonight
Darkness window open
Civil darkness has begun.
Observed 11:49 UTC, forecast 13:20 UTC, 91 min lead
Clock times in America/Edmonton
Storm level needed
Grande Prairie sits at 55.17N 118.80W in Alberta, Canada. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts Grande Prairie at 60.9 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 5.7 degrees closer to the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. Grande Prairie sits at 60.9 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 Fort St. John (176 km), Prince George (290 km), Spruce Grove (365 km). Fort St. John sits 0.8 degrees higher 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 Grande Prairie has some civil darkness; the shortest month sample still has 4.4 hours. Every evening of the year at Grande Prairie clears Glow's dark-season bar of 4 hours of civil night between 18:00 and 06:00. Grande Prairie's longest night of the year, Dec 19, has 15 h 13 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at Grande Prairie, when the sun is lowest, falls at 01:50 on local clocks on December 15 and 01:56 on June 15. That is 1 h 50 min after midnight in December and 1 h 56 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at Grande Prairie the darkest hour sits late in SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window.
Month by month
| Month | Night | Civil | Cloud | Clear dark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 14.6 h | 11.7 h | 71% | 4.2 h | |
| Feb | 12.8 h | 10.0 h | 68% | 4.1 h | |
| Mar | 10.8 h | 7.9 h | 69% | 3.3 h | |
| Apr | 8.4 h | 4.6 h | 67% | 2.8 h | |
| May | 6.0 h | 0.0 h | 65% | 2.1 h | |
| Jun | 4.4 h | 0.0 h | 65% | 1.5 h | |
| Jul | 5.3 h | 0.0 h | 61% | 2.1 h | |
| Aug | 7.5 h | 3.0 h | 61% | 2.9 h | |
| Sep | 10.0 h | 6.9 h | 64% | 3.6 h | |
| Oct | 12.2 h | 9.4 h | 71% | 3.5 h | |
| Nov | 14.2 h | 11.3 h | 75% | 3.5 h | |
| Dec | 15.2 h | 12.1 h | 71% | 4.4 hbest |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at Grande Prairie with 15.2 hours of civil night and June the lightest at 4.4. Across the year Grande Prairie gets 3,688 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at Grande Prairie, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 12.1 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around Grande Prairie at 67% across the year, from 61% in July to 75% in November. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night Grande Prairie 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, 4.4 hours, ahead of January at 4.2. Grande Prairie's equinox months score 3.3 in March and 3.6 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 Grande Prairie, on 50% of days. At Grande Prairie'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/Edmonton dates. 15 of the 30 nights at Grande Prairie have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 5 has the most at 4 h. Tonight Grande Prairie has 11 h 11 min of civil night, 1 h 5 min of it with the moon down.
- 1
65% lit
1.1 h
- 2
54% lit
2.3 h
- 3
42% lit
3.7 h
- 4
31% lit
5.3 h
- 5
21% lit
6.9 h
- 6
13% lit
8.4 h
- 7
7% lit
9.9 h
- 8
2% lit
11.3 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
12.0 h
- 15
28% lit
11.3 h
- 16
37% lit
10.3 h
- 17
46% lit
9.2 h
- 18
56% lit
7.9 h
- 19
65% lit
6.6 h
- 20
74% lit
5.3 h
- 21
82% 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
0.1 h
- 29
78% lit
1.1 h
- 30
68% lit
2.5 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.
Within Canada
Among the 17 Glow towns in Alberta, Grande Prairie ranks 2nd by dipole latitude against a regional median of 58.7 degrees; Fort McMurray sits highest at 63.4. Among the 130 Glow towns in Canada, Grande Prairie ranks 5th by dipole latitude against a national median of 55.3 degrees; Yellowknife sits highest at 68.5. On December 15 Grande Prairie gets 15.2 hours of civil night, 5th longest of 130 in Canada, where the median is 14.2.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Grande Prairie?
- Grande Prairie sits at 60.9 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 Grande Prairie still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in Grande Prairie?
- Every night at Grande Prairie has civil darkness. Tonight has 11 h 11 min, and December 15 has 15.2 hours.
- What is the best month for aurora in Grande Prairie?
- December, by civil night at Grande Prairie times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is Grande Prairie in the dark months?
- About 67% mean cloud amount over Grande Prairie 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 Grande Prairie?
- 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
Grande Prairie by month
Region and comparisons