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Grande Prairie · March 2027

Northern lights in Grande Prairie in March 2027

Answer

March gives Grande Prairie 10.8 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 6th darkest of its 12 months, under 69% mean cloud. 58% of March days since 1996 reached Kp 3, enough for the oval edge to reach Grande Prairie.
10.7 h
civil night, average night
SunCalc for 55.17, -118.80; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

March against the rest of the year

March cloud at Grande Prairie averages 69% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 2 points cloudier than its yearly mean. July is Grande Prairie's clearest month at 61%. By civil night times clear sky, March scores 3.3 hours at Grande Prairie, 7th of 12. Fort St. John, 176 km away, averages 68%, clearer by 1 points.

Civil night at Grande Prairie starts March at 11 h 52 min and reaches 9 h 35 min by March 31, 2.3 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 7.9 hours on the 15th.

March night by night

March opens toward a new moon on Mar 8, with full moon on Mar 22, in America/Edmonton dates. Grande Prairie gets 188 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 1 (4 h), Mar 2 (4 h), Mar 3 (4 h).

  1. 1

    31% lit

    10.8 h

  2. 2

    23% lit

    11.2 h

  3. 3

    15% lit

    11.5 h

  4. 4

    9% lit

    11.7 h

  5. 5

    4% lit

    11.6 h

  6. 6

    1% lit

    11.5 h

  7. 7

    0% lit

    11.4 h

  8. 8

    1% lit

    11.2 h

  9. 9

    4% lit

    9.8 h

  10. 10

    9% lit

    8.3 h

  11. 11

    16% lit

    6.8 h

  12. 12

    24% lit

    5.3 h

  13. 13

    34% lit

    3.9 h

  14. 14

    45% lit

    2.6 h

  15. 15

    57% lit

    1.6 h

  16. 16

    68% lit

    1.0 h

  17. 17

    78% lit

    0.6 h

  18. 18

    87% lit

    0.3 h

  19. 19

    94% lit

    0.1 h

  20. 20

    98% lit

    0.0 h

  21. 21

    100% lit

    0.0 h

  22. 22

    99% lit

    0.5 h

  23. 23

    96% lit

    1.9 h

  24. 24

    91% lit

    3.3 h

  25. 25

    84% lit

    4.7 h

  26. 26

    76% lit

    6.0 h

  27. 27

    67% lit

    7.0 h

  28. 28

    58% lit

    7.8 h

  29. 29

    48% lit

    8.3 h

  30. 30

    39% lit

    8.7 h

  31. 31

    30% lit

    8.9 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

Grande Prairie needs Kp 3 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 537 of the 930 March days from 1996 to 2025 (58%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, one of the three most active months for that level; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 12%. 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.

March across Canada

Grande Prairie ranks 19th in Canada for civil night on March 15, behind Québec at 11.0 hours. Coming from February (12.9 hours at Grande Prairie), March loses darkness, and April brings shorter nights (8.4 hours on the 15th). The March equinox falls on March 20, 14:25 Grande Prairie time, inside the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.

Civil night on March 15 and March cloud, month-page towns in Canada
TownCivil nightCloud
Québec11.0 h63%
Greater Sudbury11.0 h60%
Saguenay11.0 h66%
Trois-Rivières11.0 h62%
St. John's11.0 h80%
Thunder Bay11.0 h67%
Sydney11.0 h77%
Calgary10.9 h72%
Edmonton10.9 h72%
Winnipeg10.9 h61%
Saskatoon10.9 h68%
Regina10.9 h69%
Grande Prairie10.8 h69%

Darkness and moon, every night

Grande Prairie, March 2027: each night from local noon to the next noon
NightCivilAstronomicalMoon-free darkMoon-free, 10 PM to 2 AMMoon lit
Mon Mar 111 h 52 min9 h 3 min10 h 48 min4 h31%
Tue Mar 211 h 48 min8 h 58 min11 h 13 min4 h23%
Wed Mar 311 h 43 min8 h 54 min11 h 30 min4 h15%
Thu Mar 411 h 39 min8 h 49 min11 h 39 min4 h9%
Fri Mar 511 h 35 min8 h 44 min11 h 35 min4 h4%
Sat Mar 611 h 30 min8 h 39 min11 h 30 min4 h1%
Sun Mar 711 h 26 min8 h 35 min11 h 26 min4 h0%
Mon Mar 811 h 21 min8 h 30 min11 h 9 min4 h1%
Tue Mar 911 h 17 min8 h 25 min9 h 46 min4 h4%
Wed Mar 1011 h 12 min8 h 20 min8 h 21 min2 h 40 min9%
Thu Mar 1111 h 8 min8 h 15 min6 h 51 min1 h 13 min16%
Fri Mar 1211 h 3 min8 h 10 min5 h 20 min0 min24%
Sat Mar 1310 h 59 min8 h 5 min3 h 52 min0 min34%
Sun Mar 1410 h 54 min7 h 59 min2 h 36 min0 min45%
Mon Mar 1510 h 49 min7 h 54 min1 h 39 min0 min57%
Tue Mar 1610 h 45 min7 h 49 min1 h 1 min0 min68%
Wed Mar 1710 h 40 min7 h 44 min36 min0 min78%
Thu Mar 1810 h 36 min7 h 38 min18 min0 min87%
Fri Mar 1910 h 31 min7 h 33 min4 min0 min94%
Sat Mar 2010 h 26 min7 h 28 min0 min0 min98%
Sun Mar 2110 h 22 min7 h 22 min0 min0 min100%
Mon Mar 2210 h 17 min7 h 16 min27 min0 min99%
Tue Mar 2310 h 12 min7 h 11 min1 h 53 min48 min96%
Wed Mar 2410 h 8 min7 h 5 min3 h 19 min2 h 16 min91%
Thu Mar 2510 h 3 min6 h 59 min4 h 42 min3 h 41 min84%
Fri Mar 269 h 58 min6 h 54 min5 h 58 min4 h76%
Sat Mar 279 h 54 min6 h 48 min7 h 2 min4 h67%
Sun Mar 289 h 49 min6 h 42 min7 h 49 min4 h58%
Mon Mar 299 h 44 min6 h 36 min8 h 20 min4 h48%
Tue Mar 309 h 39 min6 h 30 min8 h 40 min4 h39%
Wed Mar 319 h 35 min6 h 23 min8 h 53 min4 h30%
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 March?
On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Grande Prairie have civil darkness, and 58% of past March days reached Kp 3.
How dark is Grande Prairie in March?
Grande Prairie averages 10.7 hours of civil night a night in March 2027, from 11 h 52 min on the 1st to 9 h 35 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Grande Prairie in March?
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Grande Prairie's 1 degree cell 69% mean cloud in March, against 67% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in March 2027 for aurora in Grande Prairie?
By darkness and moon alone, Mar 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 March or April better in Grande Prairie?
By civil night times the clear share, March scores 3.3 hours at Grande Prairie and April 2.8. March comes out ahead.

Sources and verification

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.