Can you see the northern lights in Longyearbyen in January?

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

How dark is Longyearbyen in January?

Longyearbyen averages 23.7 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 24 h on the 1st to 20 h 43 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Longyearbyen in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Longyearbyen's 1 degree cell 74% mean cloud in January, against 76% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

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

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

Is January or February better in Longyearbyen?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 6.2 hours at Longyearbyen and February 4.5. January comes out ahead.

Longyearbyen · January 2027

Northern lights in Longyearbyen in January 2027

Answer

January gives Longyearbyen 24.0 hours of civil night on the 15th, the darkest month of its year, under 74% mean cloud. 6% of January days since 1996 reached storm level, Kp 5.

23.7 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 78.22, 15.65; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

6.2

4.5

2.7

0.0

0.9

2.8

5.8

6.2

January cloud at Longyearbyen averages 74% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 2 points clearer than its yearly mean. April is Longyearbyen's clearest month at 67%. That makes January the best month of Longyearbyen's year by civil night times clear sky, 6.2 hours. Alta, 945 km away, averages 79%, cloudier by 5 points.

Civil night at Longyearbyen starts January at 24 h and reaches 20 h 43 min by January 31, 3.3 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 13.3 hours on the 15th.

January night by night

January opens toward a new moon on Jan 7, with full moon on Jan 22, in Arctic/Longyearbyen dates. Longyearbyen gets 434 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
24.0 h
2
20% lit
24.0 h
3
13% lit
24.0 h
4
7% lit
24.0 h
5
3% lit
24.0 h
6
1% lit
24.0 h
7
0% lit
24.0 h
New
8
1% lit
24.0 h
9
4% lit
24.0 h
10
8% lit
24.0 h
11
15% lit
19.4 h
12
22% lit
13.7 h
13
31% lit
9.6 h
14
41% lit
4.5 h
15
51% lit
0.0 h
16
62% lit
0.0 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
0.5 h
24
92% lit
7.4 h
25
84% lit
12.3 h
26
75% lit
17.1 h
27
65% lit
23.8 h
28
55% lit
22.6 h
29
45% lit
21.8 h
30
36% lit
21.2 h
31
27% lit
20.7 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

Quiet activity already puts the oval edge over Longyearbyen, 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. Longyearbyen sits at 75.3 degrees geomagnetic, poleward of SWPC's 60 to 75 degree band. The quiet oval can lie south of the town, so aurora often shows low in the southern sky, and storms push the oval farther south.

January across Svalbard and Jan Mayen

Coming from December (24.0 hours at Longyearbyen), January changes little, and February brings shorter nights (15.9 hours on the 15th).

Darkness and moon, every night

Longyearbyen, 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	24 h	14 h 42 min	24 h	4 h	29%
Sat Jan 2	24 h	14 h 38 min	24 h	4 h	20%
Sun Jan 3	24 h	14 h 34 min	24 h	4 h	13%
Mon Jan 4	24 h	14 h 29 min	24 h	4 h	7%
Tue Jan 5	24 h	14 h 25 min	24 h	4 h	3%
Wed Jan 6	24 h	14 h 20 min	24 h	4 h	1%
Thu Jan 7	24 h	14 h 14 min	24 h	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	24 h	14 h 9 min	24 h	4 h	1%
Sat Jan 9	24 h	14 h 3 min	24 h	4 h	4%
Sun Jan 10	24 h	13 h 57 min	24 h	4 h	8%
Mon Jan 11	24 h	13 h 51 min	19 h 21 min	4 h	15%
Tue Jan 12	24 h	13 h 44 min	13 h 39 min	4 h	22%
Wed Jan 13	24 h	13 h 37 min	9 h 38 min	2 h 43 min	31%
Thu Jan 14	24 h	13 h 30 min	4 h 27 min	0 min	41%
Fri Jan 15	24 h	13 h 23 min	0 min	0 min	51%
Sat Jan 16	24 h	13 h 15 min	0 min	0 min	62%
Sun Jan 17	24 h	13 h 8 min	0 min	0 min	72%
Mon Jan 18	24 h	13 h	0 min	0 min	82%
Tue Jan 19	24 h	12 h 51 min	0 min	0 min	90%
Wed Jan 20	24 h	12 h 43 min	0 min	0 min	96%
Thu Jan 21	24 h	12 h 34 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Fri Jan 22	24 h	12 h 25 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sat Jan 23	24 h	12 h 16 min	27 min	0 min	97%
Sun Jan 24	24 h	12 h 7 min	7 h 24 min	0 min	92%
Mon Jan 25	24 h	11 h 58 min	12 h 17 min	0 min	84%
Tue Jan 26	24 h	11 h 48 min	17 h 6 min	2 h 10 min	75%
Wed Jan 27	23 h 45 min	11 h 38 min	23 h 45 min	4 h	65%
Thu Jan 28	22 h 38 min	11 h 28 min	22 h 38 min	4 h	55%
Fri Jan 29	21 h 48 min	11 h 18 min	21 h 48 min	4 h	45%
Sat Jan 30	21 h 13 min	11 h 7 min	21 h 13 min	4 h	36%
Sun Jan 31	20 h 43 min	10 h 56 min	20 h 43 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 Longyearbyen in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Longyearbyen have civil darkness, and 6% of past January days reached Kp 5.
How dark is Longyearbyen in January?: Longyearbyen averages 23.7 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 24 h on the 1st to 20 h 43 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Longyearbyen in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Longyearbyen's 1 degree cell 74% mean cloud in January, against 76% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Longyearbyen?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Longyearbyen. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Longyearbyen?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 6.2 hours at Longyearbyen and February 4.5. 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.