Can you see the northern lights in Isle of Lewis in January?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Isle of Lewis have civil darkness, and 48% of past January days reached Kp 3.

How dark is Isle of Lewis in January?

Isle of Lewis averages 15.0 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 15 h 35 min on the 1st to 14 h 8 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Isle of Lewis in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Isle of Lewis's 1 degree cell 89% mean cloud in January, against 85% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Isle of Lewis?

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

Is January or February better in Isle of Lewis?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 1.7 hours at Isle of Lewis and February 1.7. February comes out ahead.

Isle of Lewis · January 2027

Northern lights in Isle of Lewis in January 2027

Answer

January gives Isle of Lewis 15.1 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 89% mean cloud. 48% of January days since 1996 reached Kp 3, enough for the oval edge to reach Isle of Lewis.

15.0 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 58.22, -6.39; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

1.7

1.5

1.0

0.4

0.5

1.0

1.6

1.8

1.7

January cloud at Isle of Lewis averages 89% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 4 points cloudier than its yearly mean. May is Isle of Lewis's clearest month at 80%. By civil night times clear sky, January scores 1.7 hours at Isle of Lewis, 6th of 12. Aberdeen, 282 km away, averages 79%, clearer by 10 points.

Civil night at Isle of Lewis starts January at 15 h 35 min and reaches 14 h 8 min by January 31, 1.4 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 11.8 hours on the 15th.

January night by night

January opens toward a new moon on Jan 7, with full moon on Jan 22, in Europe/London dates. Isle of Lewis gets 260 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
28% lit
11.7 h
2
20% lit
13.1 h
3
13% lit
14.5 h
4
7% lit
15.5 h
5
3% lit
15.5 h
6
1% lit
15.4 h
7
0% lit
15.4 h
New
8
1% lit
15.4 h
9
4% lit
14.5 h
10
9% lit
13.1 h
11
15% lit
11.7 h
12
22% lit
10.3 h
13
31% lit
9.0 h
14
41% lit
7.5 h
15
52% lit
6.0 h
16
62% lit
4.4 h
17
73% lit
2.7 h
18
83% lit
1.1 h
19
91% lit
0.0 h
20
96% lit
0.0 h
21
100% lit
0.0 h
22
100% lit
0.0 h
Full
23
97% lit
0.9 h
24
91% lit
2.6 h
25
84% lit
4.2 h
26
75% lit
5.7 h
27
65% lit
7.2 h
28
55% lit
8.6 h
29
45% lit
10.1 h
30
35% lit
11.5 h
31
26% lit
12.7 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

Isle of Lewis needs Kp 3 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 443 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (48%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 8th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 6%. 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.

January across United Kingdom

No month-page town in United Kingdom has more civil night on January 15 than Isle of Lewis; the national median is 14.5 hours. Coming from December (15.7 hours at Isle of Lewis), January loses darkness, and February brings shorter nights (13.0 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on January 15 and January cloud, month-page towns in United Kingdom
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Isle of Lewis	15.1 h	89%
Aberdeen	14.9 h	79%
Edinburgh	14.8 h	79%
Dundee	14.8 h	82%
Glasgow	14.7 h	80%
Belfast	14.6 h	81%
Newcastle upon Tyne	14.6 h	79%
Sunderland	14.6 h	79%
Middlesbrough	14.6 h	79%
Manchester, England	14.5 h	82%
Leeds	14.5 h	76%
Kingston upon Hull	14.5 h	76%

Darkness and moon, every night

Isle of Lewis, 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	15 h 35 min	12 h 14 min	11 h 42 min	4 h	28%
Sat Jan 2	15 h 33 min	12 h 13 min	13 h 8 min	4 h	20%
Sun Jan 3	15 h 32 min	12 h 11 min	14 h 30 min	4 h	13%
Mon Jan 4	15 h 30 min	12 h 10 min	15 h 30 min	4 h	7%
Tue Jan 5	15 h 28 min	12 h 9 min	15 h 28 min	4 h	3%
Wed Jan 6	15 h 26 min	12 h 7 min	15 h 26 min	4 h	1%
Thu Jan 7	15 h 24 min	12 h 5 min	15 h 24 min	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	15 h 22 min	12 h 4 min	15 h 22 min	4 h	1%
Sat Jan 9	15 h 20 min	12 h 2 min	14 h 31 min	4 h	4%
Sun Jan 10	15 h 17 min	12 h	13 h 6 min	4 h	9%
Mon Jan 11	15 h 15 min	11 h 58 min	11 h 43 min	4 h	15%
Tue Jan 12	15 h 12 min	11 h 56 min	10 h 21 min	4 h	22%
Wed Jan 13	15 h 10 min	11 h 53 min	8 h 58 min	2 h 50 min	31%
Thu Jan 14	15 h 7 min	11 h 51 min	7 h 32 min	1 h 25 min	41%
Fri Jan 15	15 h 4 min	11 h 49 min	6 h 1 min	0 min	52%
Sat Jan 16	15 h 1 min	11 h 46 min	4 h 24 min	0 min	62%
Sun Jan 17	14 h 58 min	11 h 44 min	2 h 43 min	0 min	73%
Mon Jan 18	14 h 55 min	11 h 41 min	1 h 8 min	0 min	83%
Tue Jan 19	14 h 52 min	11 h 38 min	0 min	0 min	91%
Wed Jan 20	14 h 49 min	11 h 36 min	0 min	0 min	96%
Thu Jan 21	14 h 45 min	11 h 33 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Fri Jan 22	14 h 42 min	11 h 30 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sat Jan 23	14 h 38 min	11 h 27 min	56 min	0 min	97%
Sun Jan 24	14 h 35 min	11 h 24 min	2 h 36 min	0 min	91%
Mon Jan 25	14 h 31 min	11 h 21 min	4 h 10 min	0 min	84%
Tue Jan 26	14 h 27 min	11 h 17 min	5 h 41 min	1 h 4 min	75%
Wed Jan 27	14 h 24 min	11 h 14 min	7 h 9 min	2 h 35 min	65%
Thu Jan 28	14 h 20 min	11 h 11 min	8 h 37 min	4 h	55%
Fri Jan 29	14 h 16 min	11 h 7 min	10 h 4 min	4 h	45%
Sat Jan 30	14 h 12 min	11 h 4 min	11 h 29 min	4 h	35%
Sun Jan 31	14 h 8 min	11 h	12 h 44 min	4 h	26%

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

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Isle of Lewis in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Isle of Lewis have civil darkness, and 48% of past January days reached Kp 3.
How dark is Isle of Lewis in January?: Isle of Lewis averages 15.0 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 15 h 35 min on the 1st to 14 h 8 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Isle of Lewis in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Isle of Lewis's 1 degree cell 89% mean cloud in January, against 85% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Isle of Lewis?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Isle of Lewis. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Isle of Lewis?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 1.7 hours at Isle of Lewis and February 1.7. 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.