Can you see the northern lights in Mo i Rana in January?

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

How dark is Mo i Rana in January?

Mo i Rana averages 16.5 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 17 h 31 min on the 1st to 15 h 15 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Mo i Rana in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Mo i Rana's 1 degree cell 78% mean cloud in January, against 80% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Mo i Rana?

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

Is January or February better in Mo i Rana?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 3.7 hours at Mo i Rana and February 2.7. January comes out ahead.

Mo i Rana · January 2027

Northern lights in Mo i Rana in January 2027

Answer

January gives Mo i Rana 16.7 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 78% mean cloud. 6% of January days since 1996 reached storm level, Kp 5.

16.5 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 66.31, 14.14; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

3.7

2.7

2.2

1.3

0.0

0.9

1.6

2.1

3.3

3.5

January cloud at Mo i Rana averages 78% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 2 points clearer than its yearly mean. No month at Mo i Rana is clearer. That makes January the best month of Mo i Rana's year by civil night times clear sky, 3.7 hours. Bodø, 108 km away, averages 82%, cloudier by 4 points.

Civil night at Mo i Rana starts January at 17 h 31 min and reaches 15 h 15 min by January 31, 2.3 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 12.2 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/Oslo dates. Mo i Rana gets 297 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
14.0 h
2
20% lit
17.5 h
3
13% lit
17.4 h
4
7% lit
17.4 h
5
3% lit
17.3 h
6
1% lit
17.3 h
7
0% lit
17.2 h
New
8
1% lit
17.2 h
9
4% lit
16.9 h
10
8% lit
14.9 h
11
15% lit
13.1 h
12
22% lit
11.4 h
13
31% lit
9.8 h
14
41% lit
8.0 h
15
51% lit
6.1 h
16
62% lit
3.8 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
0.7 h
24
92% lit
2.8 h
25
84% lit
4.7 h
26
75% lit
6.5 h
27
65% lit
8.4 h
28
55% lit
10.3 h
29
45% lit
13.3 h
30
36% lit
15.3 h
31
27% lit
15.3 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.

Activity in past Januarys

Quiet activity already puts the oval edge over Mo i Rana, 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. Mo i Rana sits at 65.2 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 Norway

Mo i Rana ranks 5th in Norway for civil night on January 15, behind Alta at 17.9 hours. Coming from December (17.7 hours at Mo i Rana), January loses darkness, and February brings shorter nights (13.7 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on January 15 and January cloud, month-page towns in Norway
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Alta	17.9 h	79%
Tromsø	17.8 h	83%
Harstad	17.5 h	80%
Bodø	17.0 h	82%
Mo i Rana	16.7 h	78%
Trondheim	16.0 h	83%
Levanger	16.0 h	83%
Stjørdalshalsen	16.0 h	83%
Kristiansund	15.9 h	85%
Ålesund	15.8 h	85%
Molde	15.8 h	85%
Hamar	15.5 h	79%

Darkness and moon, every night

Mo i Rana, 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	17 h 31 min	12 h 50 min	13 h 58 min	4 h	29%
Sat Jan 2	17 h 28 min	12 h 48 min	17 h 28 min	4 h	20%
Sun Jan 3	17 h 26 min	12 h 47 min	17 h 26 min	4 h	13%
Mon Jan 4	17 h 23 min	12 h 45 min	17 h 23 min	4 h	7%
Tue Jan 5	17 h 20 min	12 h 42 min	17 h 20 min	4 h	3%
Wed Jan 6	17 h 17 min	12 h 40 min	17 h 17 min	4 h	1%
Thu Jan 7	17 h 13 min	12 h 38 min	17 h 13 min	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	17 h 10 min	12 h 35 min	17 h 10 min	4 h	1%
Sat Jan 9	17 h 6 min	12 h 33 min	16 h 51 min	4 h	4%
Sun Jan 10	17 h 2 min	12 h 30 min	14 h 53 min	4 h	8%
Mon Jan 11	16 h 58 min	12 h 27 min	13 h 7 min	4 h	15%
Tue Jan 12	16 h 54 min	12 h 24 min	11 h 26 min	4 h	22%
Wed Jan 13	16 h 50 min	12 h 21 min	9 h 45 min	3 h 8 min	31%
Thu Jan 14	16 h 46 min	12 h 18 min	7 h 59 min	1 h 25 min	41%
Fri Jan 15	16 h 41 min	12 h 14 min	6 h 4 min	0 min	51%
Sat Jan 16	16 h 36 min	12 h 11 min	3 h 49 min	0 min	62%
Sun Jan 17	16 h 32 min	12 h 7 min	0 min	0 min	72%
Mon Jan 18	16 h 27 min	12 h 3 min	0 min	0 min	82%
Tue Jan 19	16 h 22 min	12 h	0 min	0 min	90%
Wed Jan 20	16 h 17 min	11 h 56 min	0 min	0 min	96%
Thu Jan 21	16 h 11 min	11 h 52 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Fri Jan 22	16 h 6 min	11 h 47 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sat Jan 23	16 h 1 min	11 h 43 min	43 min	0 min	97%
Sun Jan 24	15 h 55 min	11 h 39 min	2 h 48 min	0 min	92%
Mon Jan 25	15 h 50 min	11 h 34 min	4 h 43 min	0 min	84%
Tue Jan 26	15 h 44 min	11 h 30 min	6 h 33 min	55 min	75%
Wed Jan 27	15 h 39 min	11 h 25 min	8 h 22 min	2 h 48 min	65%
Thu Jan 28	15 h 33 min	11 h 20 min	10 h 19 min	4 h	55%
Fri Jan 29	15 h 27 min	11 h 15 min	13 h 21 min	4 h	45%
Sat Jan 30	15 h 21 min	11 h 10 min	15 h 21 min	4 h	36%
Sun Jan 31	15 h 15 min	11 h 5 min	15 h 15 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 Mo i Rana in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Mo i Rana have civil darkness, and 6% of past January days reached Kp 5.
How dark is Mo i Rana in January?: Mo i Rana averages 16.5 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 17 h 31 min on the 1st to 15 h 15 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Mo i Rana in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Mo i Rana's 1 degree cell 78% mean cloud in January, against 80% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Mo i Rana?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Mo i Rana. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Mo i Rana?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 3.7 hours at Mo i Rana and February 2.7. 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.