Longyearbyen · March 2027
Northern lights in Longyearbyen in March 2027
Answer
March against the rest of the year
March cloud at Longyearbyen averages 70% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 6 points clearer than its yearly mean. April is Longyearbyen's clearest month at 67%. By civil night times clear sky, March scores 2.7 hours at Longyearbyen, 6th of 12. Alta, 945 km away, averages 79%, cloudier by 9 points.
Civil night at Longyearbyen starts March at 12 h 29 min and reaches 3 h 4 min by March 31, 9.4 hours shorter. The 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on 27 of 31 nights. The sun never reaches 18 degrees down, so Longyearbyen gets no astronomical night in March.
March night by night
March opens toward a new moon on Mar 8, with full moon on Mar 22, in Arctic/Longyearbyen dates. Longyearbyen gets 146 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
34% lit
12.5 h
- 2
25% lit
12.3 h
- 3
18% lit
12.0 h
- 4
11% lit
11.8 h
- 5
6% lit
11.5 h
- 6
2% lit
11.3 h
- 7
0% lit
11.0 h
- 8
0% lit
10.8 h
- 9
3% lit
8.0 h
- 10
7% lit
0.0 h
- 11
13% lit
0.0 h
- 12
22% lit
0.0 h
- 13
31% lit
0.0 h
- 14
42% lit
0.0 h
- 15
53% lit
0.0 h
- 16
65% lit
0.0 h
- 17
75% lit
0.0 h
- 18
84% lit
0.0 h
- 19
92% lit
0.0 h
- 20
97% lit
0.0 h
- 21
100% lit
0.0 h
- 22
100% lit
0.0 h
- 23
97% lit
6.5 h
- 24
92% lit
6.2 h
- 25
86% lit
5.8 h
- 26
78% lit
5.5 h
- 27
70% lit
5.1 h
- 28
61% lit
4.6 h
- 29
51% lit
4.2 h
- 30
42% lit
3.7 h
- 31
33% lit
3.1 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
Quiet activity already puts the oval edge over Longyearbyen, so storm days matter more: 111 of the 930 March days from 1996 to 2025 (12%) reached Kp 5, one of the three most active 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.
March across Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Coming from February (15.9 hours at Longyearbyen), March loses darkness, and April brings shorter nights (0.0 hours on the 15th). The March equinox falls on March 20, 21:25 Longyearbyen time, inside the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.
Darkness and moon, every night
| Night | Civil | Astronomical | Moon-free dark | Moon-free, 10 PM to 2 AM | Moon lit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon Mar 1 | 12 h 29 min | 2 h 33 min | 12 h 29 min | 4 h | 34% |
| Tue Mar 2 | 12 h 15 min | 1 h 41 min | 12 h 15 min | 4 h | 25% |
| Wed Mar 3 | 12 h | 0 min | 12 h | 4 h | 18% |
| Thu Mar 4 | 11 h 45 min | 0 min | 11 h 45 min | 4 h | 11% |
| Fri Mar 5 | 11 h 30 min | 0 min | 11 h 30 min | 4 h | 6% |
| Sat Mar 6 | 11 h 15 min | 0 min | 11 h 15 min | 4 h | 2% |
| Sun Mar 7 | 11 h | 0 min | 11 h | 4 h | 0% |
| Mon Mar 8 | 10 h 45 min | 0 min | 10 h 45 min | 4 h | 0% |
| Tue Mar 9 | 10 h 30 min | 0 min | 8 h 1 min | 4 h | 3% |
| Wed Mar 10 | 10 h 15 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 7% |
| Thu Mar 11 | 9 h 59 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 13% |
| Fri Mar 12 | 9 h 44 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 22% |
| Sat Mar 13 | 9 h 28 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 31% |
| Sun Mar 14 | 9 h 12 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 42% |
| Mon Mar 15 | 8 h 55 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 53% |
| Tue Mar 16 | 8 h 39 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 65% |
| Wed Mar 17 | 8 h 22 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 75% |
| Thu Mar 18 | 8 h 5 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 84% |
| Fri Mar 19 | 7 h 47 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 92% |
| Sat Mar 20 | 7 h 29 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 97% |
| Sun Mar 21 | 7 h 11 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 100% |
| Mon Mar 22 | 6 h 52 min | 0 min | 1 min | 0 min | 100% |
| Tue Mar 23 | 6 h 32 min | 0 min | 6 h 32 min | 4 h | 97% |
| Wed Mar 24 | 6 h 11 min | 0 min | 6 h 11 min | 4 h | 92% |
| Thu Mar 25 | 5 h 50 min | 0 min | 5 h 50 min | 4 h | 86% |
| Fri Mar 26 | 5 h 27 min | 0 min | 5 h 27 min | 4 h | 78% |
| Sat Mar 27 | 5 h 4 min | 0 min | 5 h 4 min | 3 h | 70% |
| Sun Mar 28 | 4 h 38 min | 0 min | 4 h 38 min | 3 h 18 min | 61% |
| Mon Mar 29 | 4 h 10 min | 0 min | 4 h 10 min | 3 h 4 min | 51% |
| Tue Mar 30 | 3 h 40 min | 0 min | 3 h 40 min | 2 h 49 min | 42% |
| Wed Mar 31 | 3 h 4 min | 0 min | 3 h 4 min | 2 h 32 min | 33% |
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Longyearbyen in March?
- On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Longyearbyen have civil darkness, and 12% of past March days reached Kp 5.
- How dark is Longyearbyen in March?
- Longyearbyen averages 8.4 hours of civil night a night in March 2027, from 12 h 29 min on the 1st to 3 h 4 min on the last night.
- How cloudy is Longyearbyen in March?
- NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Longyearbyen's 1 degree cell 70% mean cloud in March, against 76% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
- What is the best night in March 2027 for aurora in Longyearbyen?
- By darkness and moon alone, Mar 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 March or April better in Longyearbyen?
- By civil night times the clear share, March scores 2.7 hours at Longyearbyen and April 0.0. March 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.