Scotland, United Kingdom
Northern lights in Isle of Lewis
Answer
Tonight
Waiting on darkness
It is not civil-dark yet. The next dusk is listed below.
Observed 11:55 UTC, forecast 13:26 UTC, 91 min lead
Clock times in Europe/London
Storm level needed
Isle of Lewis sits at 58.22N 6.39W in Scotland, United Kingdom. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts Isle of Lewis at 60.8 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 2.6 degrees closer to the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. Isle of Lewis sits at 60.8 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 Inverness (152 km), Fort William (174 km), Elgin, Scotland (192 km). Inverness sits 1.0 degrees lower on the dipole, Kp 4 against 3 here.
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 Isle of Lewis has some civil darkness; the shortest month sample still has 2.9 hours. Glow's dark season, at least 4 hours of civil night between 18:00 and 06:00, runs from July 15 to May 27 across New Year, 317 days in 2026. Isle of Lewis's longest night of the year, Dec 20, has 15 h 43 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at Isle of Lewis, when the sun is lowest, falls at 00:21 on local clocks on December 15 and 01:26 on June 15. That is 21 min after midnight in December and 1 h 26 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at Isle of Lewis the darkest hour sits near the middle of SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window in winter.
Month by month
| Month | Night | Civil | Cloud | Clear dark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 15.1 h | 11.8 h | 89% | 1.7 h | |
| Feb | 13.0 h | 10.0 h | 87% | 1.7 h | |
| Mar | 10.8 h | 7.5 h | 84% | 1.7 h | |
| Apr | 8.0 h | 3.5 h | 81% | 1.5 h | |
| May | 5.1 h | 0.0 h | 80% | 1.0 h | |
| Jun | 2.9 h | 0.0 h | 87% | 0.4 h | |
| Jul | 4.0 h | 0.0 h | 87% | 0.5 h | |
| Aug | 6.9 h | 0.0 h | 86% | 1.0 h | |
| Sep | 9.7 h | 6.3 h | 84% | 1.6 h | |
| Oct | 12.3 h | 9.2 h | 85% | 1.8 hbest | |
| Nov | 14.5 h | 11.3 h | 88% | 1.7 h | |
| Dec | 15.7 h | 12.3 h | 89% | 1.7 h |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at Isle of Lewis with 15.7 hours of civil night and June the lightest at 2.9. Across the year Isle of Lewis gets 3,583 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at Isle of Lewis, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 12.3 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around Isle of Lewis at 85% across the year, from 80% in May to 89% in January. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night Isle of Lewis averages 85%, against a median of 77% for Glow towns in United Kingdom.
Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky gives October the best score, 1.8 hours, ahead of November at 1.7. Isle of Lewis's equinox months score 1.7 in March and 1.6 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 Isle of Lewis, on 50% of days. At Isle of Lewis'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 2, the new moon falls on Oct 10 and the full moon on Oct 26, in Europe/London dates. 14 of the 30 nights at Isle of Lewis have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 6 has the most at 4 h. Tonight Isle of Lewis has 11 h 12 min of civil night, 1 h 13 min of it with the moon down.
- 2
57% lit
1.2 h
- 3
46% lit
2.7 h
- 4
34% lit
4.4 h
- 5
24% lit
6.1 h
- 6
15% lit
7.8 h
- 7
8% lit
9.4 h
- 8
3% lit
10.9 h
- 9
1% lit
11.8 h
- 10
0% lit
11.8 h
- 11
2% lit
11.9 h
- 12
6% lit
12.0 h
- 13
11% lit
12.1 h
- 14
18% lit
12.2 h
- 15
26% lit
12.2 h
- 16
34% lit
11.3 h
- 17
43% lit
10.1 h
- 18
53% lit
8.8 h
- 19
62% lit
7.3 h
- 20
72% lit
5.9 h
- 21
80% lit
4.5 h
- 22
88% lit
3.1 h
- 23
94% lit
1.7 h
- 24
98% lit
0.1 h
- 25
100% lit
0.0 h
- 26
99% lit
0.0 h
- 27
95% lit
0.0 h
- 28
89% lit
0.0 h
- 29
81% lit
0.3 h
- 30
71% lit
1.6 h
- 31
60% lit
3.3 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 United Kingdom
Among the 26 Glow towns in Scotland, Isle of Lewis ranks 1st by dipole latitude against a regional median of 58.3 degrees, the highest of them. Among the 105 Glow towns in United Kingdom, Isle of Lewis ranks 1st by dipole latitude against a national median of 56.3 degrees, the highest of them. On December 15 Isle of Lewis gets 15.7 hours of civil night, 1st longest of 105 in United Kingdom, where the median is 15.0.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Isle of Lewis?
- Isle of Lewis sits at 60.8 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 Isle of Lewis still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in Isle of Lewis?
- Every night at Isle of Lewis has civil darkness. Tonight has 11 h 12 min, and December 15 has 15.7 hours.
- What is the best month for aurora in Isle of Lewis?
- October, by civil night at Isle of Lewis times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is Isle of Lewis in the dark months?
- About 85% mean cloud amount over Isle of Lewis 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 Isle of Lewis?
- 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
Isle of Lewis by month
Region and comparisons