Can you see the northern lights in Grande Prairie in February?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 28 of 28 nights at Grande Prairie have civil darkness, and 54% of past February days reached Kp 3.

How dark is Grande Prairie in February?

Grande Prairie averages 12.9 hours of civil night a night in February 2027, from 13 h 46 min on the 1st to 11 h 57 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Grande Prairie in February?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Grande Prairie's 1 degree cell 68% mean cloud in February, against 67% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in February 2027 for aurora in Grande Prairie?

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

Is February or March better in Grande Prairie?

By civil night times the clear share, February scores 4.1 hours at Grande Prairie and March 3.3. February comes out ahead.

Grande Prairie · February 2027

Northern lights in Grande Prairie in February 2027

Answer

February gives Grande Prairie 12.9 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 4th darkest of its 12 months, under 68% mean cloud. 54% of February days since 1996 reached Kp 3, enough for the oval edge to reach Grande Prairie.

12.9 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 55.17, -118.80; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

February against the rest of the year

4.2

4.1

3.3

2.8

2.1

1.5

2.1

2.9

3.6

3.5

4.4

February cloud at Grande Prairie averages 68% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, close to its yearly mean of 67%. July is Grande Prairie's clearest month at 61%. By civil night times clear sky, February scores 4.1 hours at Grande Prairie, 3rd of 12. Fort St. John, 176 km away, averages 67%, clearer by 1 points.

Civil night at Grande Prairie starts February at 13 h 46 min and reaches 11 h 57 min by February 28, 1.8 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 10.0 hours on the 15th.

February night by night

February opens toward a new moon on Feb 6, with full moon on Feb 20, in America/Edmonton dates. Grande Prairie gets 192 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: Feb 1 (4 h), Feb 2 (4 h), Feb 3 (4 h).

1
17% lit
13.1 h
2
10% lit
13.7 h
3
5% lit
13.6 h
4
2% lit
13.6 h
5
0% lit
13.5 h
6
0% lit
13.4 h
New
7
2% lit
12.6 h
8
6% lit
11.3 h
9
12% lit
9.9 h
10
19% lit
8.6 h
11
28% lit
7.2 h
12
38% lit
5.7 h
13
49% lit
4.1 h
14
60% lit
2.7 h
15
71% lit
1.5 h
16
81% lit
0.7 h
17
90% lit
0.1 h
18
96% lit
0.0 h
19
99% lit
0.0 h
20
100% lit
0.0 h
Full
21
98% lit
1.0 h
22
93% lit
2.5 h
23
86% lit
3.9 h
24
78% lit
5.3 h
25
69% lit
6.7 h
26
60% lit
8.0 h
27
50% lit
9.2 h
28
40% lit
10.1 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 Februarys

Grande Prairie needs Kp 3 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 455 of the 848 February days from 1996 to 2025 (54%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 5th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 8%. 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.

February across Canada

Grande Prairie ranks 3rd in Canada for civil night on February 15, behind Yellowknife at 13.3 hours. Coming from January (14.6 hours at Grande Prairie), February loses darkness, and March brings shorter nights (10.8 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on February 15 and February cloud, month-page towns in Canada
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Yellowknife	13.3 h	51%
Whitehorse	13.2 h	61%
Grande Prairie	12.9 h	68%
Fort McMurray	12.9 h	66%
Fort St. John	12.9 h	67%
Edmonton	12.8 h	69%
Prince Albert	12.8 h	68%
Lloydminster	12.8 h	66%
Calgary	12.7 h	69%
Saskatoon	12.7 h	66%
Red Deer	12.7 h	70%
Winnipeg	12.6 h	56%

Darkness and moon, every night

Grande Prairie, February 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 Feb 1	13 h 46 min	10 h 53 min	13 h 6 min	4 h	17%
Tue Feb 2	13 h 42 min	10 h 50 min	13 h 40 min	4 h	10%
Wed Feb 3	13 h 38 min	10 h 47 min	13 h 38 min	4 h	5%
Thu Feb 4	13 h 35 min	10 h 43 min	13 h 35 min	4 h	2%
Fri Feb 5	13 h 31 min	10 h 40 min	13 h 31 min	4 h	0%
Sat Feb 6	13 h 27 min	10 h 36 min	13 h 27 min	4 h	0%
Sun Feb 7	13 h 23 min	10 h 33 min	12 h 35 min	4 h	2%
Mon Feb 8	13 h 20 min	10 h 29 min	11 h 15 min	4 h	6%
Tue Feb 9	13 h 16 min	10 h 26 min	9 h 56 min	3 h 9 min	12%
Wed Feb 10	13 h 12 min	10 h 22 min	8 h 34 min	1 h 49 min	19%
Thu Feb 11	13 h 8 min	10 h 18 min	7 h 9 min	26 min	28%
Fri Feb 12	13 h 4 min	10 h 14 min	5 h 39 min	0 min	38%
Sat Feb 13	13 h	10 h 11 min	4 h 8 min	0 min	49%
Sun Feb 14	12 h 56 min	10 h 7 min	2 h 42 min	0 min	60%
Mon Feb 15	12 h 52 min	10 h 3 min	1 h 30 min	0 min	71%
Tue Feb 16	12 h 48 min	9 h 59 min	40 min	0 min	81%
Wed Feb 17	12 h 44 min	9 h 55 min	7 min	0 min	90%
Thu Feb 18	12 h 39 min	9 h 51 min	0 min	0 min	96%
Fri Feb 19	12 h 35 min	9 h 46 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Sat Feb 20	12 h 31 min	9 h 42 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sun Feb 21	12 h 27 min	9 h 38 min	1 h	0 min	98%
Mon Feb 22	12 h 23 min	9 h 34 min	2 h 27 min	24 min	93%
Tue Feb 23	12 h 18 min	9 h 30 min	3 h 53 min	1 h 52 min	86%
Wed Feb 24	12 h 14 min	9 h 25 min	5 h 18 min	3 h 19 min	78%
Thu Feb 25	12 h 10 min	9 h 21 min	6 h 42 min	4 h	69%
Fri Feb 26	12 h 5 min	9 h 16 min	8 h 1 min	4 h	60%
Sat Feb 27	12 h 1 min	9 h 12 min	9 h 12 min	4 h	50%
Sun Feb 28	11 h 57 min	9 h 7 min	10 h 8 min	4 h	40%

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

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Grande Prairie in February?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 28 of 28 nights at Grande Prairie have civil darkness, and 54% of past February days reached Kp 3.
How dark is Grande Prairie in February?: Grande Prairie averages 12.9 hours of civil night a night in February 2027, from 13 h 46 min on the 1st to 11 h 57 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Grande Prairie in February?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Grande Prairie's 1 degree cell 68% mean cloud in February, against 67% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in February 2027 for aurora in Grande Prairie?: By darkness and moon alone, Feb 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Grande Prairie. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is February or March better in Grande Prairie?: By civil night times the clear share, February scores 4.1 hours at Grande Prairie and March 3.3. February 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.