Can you see the northern lights in Kiruna in January?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Kiruna have civil darkness, and 6% of past January days reached Kp 5.

How dark is Kiruna in January?

Kiruna averages 17.0 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 18 h 6 min on the 1st to 15 h 33 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Kiruna in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Kiruna's 1 degree cell 76% mean cloud in January, against 75% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Kiruna?

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

Is January or February better in Kiruna?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 4.1 hours at Kiruna and February 3.6. January comes out ahead.

Kiruna · January 2027

Northern lights in Kiruna in January 2027

Answer

January gives Kiruna 17.1 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 76% mean cloud. 6% of January days since 1996 reached storm level, Kp 5.

17.0 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 67.86, 20.23; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

4.1

3.6

3.3

1.7

0.0

0.8

2.1

2.6

3.9

3.7

January cloud at Kiruna averages 76% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, close to its yearly mean of 75%. March is Kiruna's clearest month at 68%. That makes January the best month of Kiruna's year by civil night times clear sky, 4.1 hours. Harstad, 184 km away, averages 80%, cloudier by 4 points.

Civil night at Kiruna starts January at 18 h 6 min and reaches 15 h 33 min by January 31, 2.5 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 12.3 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/Stockholm dates. Kiruna gets 308 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
29% lit
14.8 h
2
20% lit
18.1 h
3
13% lit
18.0 h
4
7% lit
17.9 h
5
3% lit
17.9 h
6
1% lit
17.8 h
7
0% lit
17.8 h
New
8
1% lit
17.7 h
9
4% lit
17.6 h
10
8% lit
15.4 h
11
15% lit
13.5 h
12
22% lit
11.8 h
13
31% lit
10.0 h
14
41% lit
8.1 h
15
51% lit
6.1 h
16
62% lit
3.2 h
17
72% lit
0.0 h
18
82% lit
0.0 h
19
90% lit
0.0 h
20
96% lit
0.0 h
21
99% lit
0.0 h
22
100% lit
0.0 h
Full
23
97% lit
0.6 h
24
92% lit
2.9 h
25
84% lit
4.9 h
26
75% lit
6.8 h
27
65% lit
8.7 h
28
55% lit
11.2 h
29
45% lit
15.8 h
30
36% lit
15.7 h
31
27% lit
15.6 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

Quiet activity already puts the oval edge over Kiruna, so storm days matter more: 58 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (6%) reached Kp 5, one of the three quietest months for that level. Kiruna sits at 65.7 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 1.

January across Sweden

No month-page town in Sweden has more civil night on January 15 than Kiruna; the national median is 15.6 hours. Coming from December (18.3 hours at Kiruna), January loses darkness, and February brings shorter nights (13.8 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on January 15 and January cloud, month-page towns in Sweden
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Kiruna	17.1 h	76%
Luleå	16.5 h	80%
Boden	16.5 h	76%
Piteå	16.4 h	76%
Skellefteå	16.3 h	78%
Umeå	16.1 h	82%
Örnsköldsvik	16.0 h	78%
Östersund	15.9 h	79%
Sundsvall	15.8 h	76%
Härnösand	15.8 h	76%
Hudiksvall	15.6 h	78%
Uppsala	15.3 h	85%

Darkness and moon, every night

Kiruna, 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	18 h 6 min	12 h 59 min	14 h 45 min	4 h	29%
Sat Jan 2	18 h 3 min	12 h 57 min	18 h 3 min	4 h	20%
Sun Jan 3	18 h	12 h 55 min	18 h	4 h	13%
Mon Jan 4	17 h 57 min	12 h 53 min	17 h 57 min	4 h	7%
Tue Jan 5	17 h 53 min	12 h 51 min	17 h 53 min	4 h	3%
Wed Jan 6	17 h 50 min	12 h 48 min	17 h 50 min	4 h	1%
Thu Jan 7	17 h 46 min	12 h 46 min	17 h 46 min	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	17 h 42 min	12 h 43 min	17 h 42 min	4 h	1%
Sat Jan 9	17 h 37 min	12 h 40 min	17 h 37 min	4 h	4%
Sun Jan 10	17 h 33 min	12 h 37 min	15 h 25 min	4 h	8%
Mon Jan 11	17 h 29 min	12 h 34 min	13 h 32 min	4 h	15%
Tue Jan 12	17 h 24 min	12 h 31 min	11 h 45 min	4 h	22%
Wed Jan 13	17 h 19 min	12 h 27 min	9 h 59 min	3 h 32 min	31%
Thu Jan 14	17 h 14 min	12 h 24 min	8 h 8 min	1 h 43 min	41%
Fri Jan 15	17 h 9 min	12 h 20 min	6 h 5 min	0 min	51%
Sat Jan 16	17 h 4 min	12 h 16 min	3 h 11 min	0 min	62%
Sun Jan 17	16 h 58 min	12 h 12 min	0 min	0 min	72%
Mon Jan 18	16 h 53 min	12 h 8 min	0 min	0 min	82%
Tue Jan 19	16 h 47 min	12 h 4 min	0 min	0 min	90%
Wed Jan 20	16 h 42 min	12 h	0 min	0 min	96%
Thu Jan 21	16 h 36 min	11 h 56 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Fri Jan 22	16 h 30 min	11 h 51 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sat Jan 23	16 h 24 min	11 h 47 min	37 min	0 min	97%
Sun Jan 24	16 h 18 min	11 h 42 min	2 h 51 min	0 min	92%
Mon Jan 25	16 h 12 min	11 h 37 min	4 h 52 min	0 min	84%
Tue Jan 26	16 h 6 min	11 h 32 min	6 h 46 min	34 min	75%
Wed Jan 27	15 h 59 min	11 h 27 min	8 h 42 min	2 h 34 min	65%
Thu Jan 28	15 h 53 min	11 h 22 min	11 h 14 min	4 h	55%
Fri Jan 29	15 h 46 min	11 h 17 min	15 h 46 min	4 h	45%
Sat Jan 30	15 h 40 min	11 h 11 min	15 h 40 min	4 h	36%
Sun Jan 31	15 h 33 min	11 h 6 min	15 h 33 min	4 h	27%

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

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Kiruna in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Kiruna have civil darkness, and 6% of past January days reached Kp 5.
How dark is Kiruna in January?: Kiruna averages 17.0 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 18 h 6 min on the 1st to 15 h 33 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Kiruna in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Kiruna's 1 degree cell 76% mean cloud in January, against 75% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Kiruna?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Kiruna. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Kiruna?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 4.1 hours at Kiruna and February 3.6. January 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.