Montréal-Nord · October 2026
Northern lights in Montréal-Nord in October 2026
Answer
October against the rest of the year
October cloud at Montréal-Nord averages 68% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 3 points cloudier than its yearly mean. September is Montréal-Nord's clearest month at 54%. By civil night times clear sky, October scores 3.8 hours at Montréal-Nord, 5th of 12. Trois-Rivières, 118 km away, averages 69%, cloudier by 1 points.
Civil night at Montréal-Nord starts October at 11 h 15 min and reaches 12 h 44 min by October 31 as the nights lengthen by 1.5 hours. SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on every night. True astronomical darkness, the sun 18 degrees down, lasts 9.7 hours on the 15th.
October night by night
October opens toward a new moon on Oct 10, with full moon on Oct 26, in America/Toronto dates. Montréal-Nord gets 185 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: Oct 5 (4 h), Oct 6 (4 h), Oct 7 (4 h).
- 1
66% lit
2.1 h
- 2
55% lit
3.2 h
- 3
43% lit
4.5 h
- 4
32% lit
5.8 h
- 5
22% lit
7.2 h
- 6
14% lit
8.5 h
- 7
7% lit
9.8 h
- 8
3% lit
11.0 h
- 9
0% lit
11.7 h
- 10
0% lit
11.7 h
- 11
3% lit
11.8 h
- 12
7% lit
11.8 h
- 13
12% lit
11.4 h
- 14
19% lit
10.8 h
- 15
27% lit
10.1 h
- 16
36% lit
9.2 h
- 17
45% lit
8.2 h
- 18
55% lit
7.1 h
- 19
64% lit
6.0 h
- 20
73% lit
4.9 h
- 21
82% lit
3.7 h
- 22
89% lit
2.6 h
- 23
95% lit
1.4 h
- 24
99% lit
0.1 h
- 25
100% lit
0.0 h
- 26
98% lit
0.0 h
- 27
94% lit
0.0 h
- 28
88% lit
0.8 h
- 29
79% lit
1.9 h
- 30
69% lit
3.1 h
- 31
58% lit
4.4 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 Octobers
Montréal-Nord needs Kp 6 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 50 of the 930 October days from 1996 to 2025 (5%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, one of the three most active months for that level; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 12%. Montréal-Nord sits at 54.8 degrees geomagnetic. The lowest NOAA storm level whose typical viewing latitude reaches it is G3 (Kp = 7). By SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead only at Kp 6.
October across Canada
Montréal-Nord ranks 17th in Canada for civil night on October 15, behind Yellowknife at 12.4 hours. Coming from September (10.4 hours at Montréal-Nord), October adds darkness, and the nights keep growing into November (13.4 hours on the 15th).
| Town | Civil night | Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Yellowknife | 12.4 h | 81% |
| Whitehorse | 12.4 h | 77% |
| Edmonton | 12.2 h | 68% |
| Grande Prairie | 12.2 h | 71% |
| Fort McMurray | 12.2 h | 71% |
| Prince Albert | 12.2 h | 70% |
| Lloydminster | 12.2 h | 66% |
| Fort St. John | 12.2 h | 71% |
| Calgary | 12.1 h | 68% |
| Winnipeg | 12.1 h | 66% |
| Saskatoon | 12.1 h | 65% |
| Regina | 12.1 h | 63% |
| Montréal-Nord | 12.0 h | 68% |
Darkness and moon, every night
| Night | Civil | Astronomical | Moon-free dark | Moon-free, 10 PM to 2 AM | Moon lit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu Oct 1 | 11 h 15 min | 8 h 56 min | 2 h 8 min | 0 min | 66% |
| Fri Oct 2 | 11 h 18 min | 8 h 59 min | 3 h 14 min | 19 min | 55% |
| Sat Oct 3 | 11 h 21 min | 9 h 3 min | 4 h 30 min | 1 h 33 min | 43% |
| Sun Oct 4 | 11 h 24 min | 9 h 6 min | 5 h 51 min | 2 h 53 min | 32% |
| Mon Oct 5 | 11 h 27 min | 9 h 9 min | 7 h 12 min | 4 h | 22% |
| Tue Oct 6 | 11 h 31 min | 9 h 13 min | 8 h 31 min | 4 h | 14% |
| Wed Oct 7 | 11 h 34 min | 9 h 16 min | 9 h 48 min | 4 h | 7% |
| Thu Oct 8 | 11 h 37 min | 9 h 19 min | 11 h 2 min | 4 h | 3% |
| Fri Oct 9 | 11 h 40 min | 9 h 22 min | 11 h 40 min | 4 h | 0% |
| Sat Oct 10 | 11 h 43 min | 9 h 25 min | 11 h 43 min | 4 h | 0% |
| Sun Oct 11 | 11 h 46 min | 9 h 28 min | 11 h 46 min | 4 h | 3% |
| Mon Oct 12 | 11 h 49 min | 9 h 32 min | 11 h 49 min | 4 h | 7% |
| Tue Oct 13 | 11 h 52 min | 9 h 35 min | 11 h 26 min | 4 h | 12% |
| Wed Oct 14 | 11 h 55 min | 9 h 38 min | 10 h 50 min | 4 h | 19% |
| Thu Oct 15 | 11 h 58 min | 9 h 41 min | 10 h 5 min | 4 h | 27% |
| Fri Oct 16 | 12 h 1 min | 9 h 44 min | 9 h 11 min | 4 h | 36% |
| Sat Oct 17 | 12 h 4 min | 9 h 47 min | 8 h 11 min | 3 h 29 min | 45% |
| Sun Oct 18 | 12 h 7 min | 9 h 50 min | 7 h 6 min | 2 h 23 min | 55% |
| Mon Oct 19 | 12 h 10 min | 9 h 53 min | 5 h 59 min | 1 h 14 min | 64% |
| Tue Oct 20 | 12 h 13 min | 9 h 55 min | 4 h 52 min | 5 min | 73% |
| Wed Oct 21 | 12 h 16 min | 9 h 58 min | 3 h 43 min | 0 min | 82% |
| Thu Oct 22 | 12 h 19 min | 10 h 1 min | 2 h 34 min | 0 min | 89% |
| Fri Oct 23 | 12 h 22 min | 10 h 4 min | 1 h 22 min | 0 min | 95% |
| Sat Oct 24 | 12 h 25 min | 10 h 7 min | 6 min | 0 min | 99% |
| Sun Oct 25 | 12 h 27 min | 10 h 9 min | 0 min | 0 min | 100% |
| Mon Oct 26 | 12 h 30 min | 10 h 12 min | 0 min | 0 min | 98% |
| Tue Oct 27 | 12 h 33 min | 10 h 15 min | 0 min | 0 min | 94% |
| Wed Oct 28 | 12 h 36 min | 10 h 17 min | 48 min | 0 min | 88% |
| Thu Oct 29 | 12 h 39 min | 10 h 20 min | 1 h 51 min | 0 min | 79% |
| Fri Oct 30 | 12 h 41 min | 10 h 23 min | 3 h 5 min | 0 min | 69% |
| Sat Oct 31 | 12 h 44 min | 10 h 25 min | 4 h 26 min | 42 min | 58% |
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Montréal-Nord in October?
- On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Montréal-Nord have civil darkness, and 5% of past October days reached Kp 6.
- How dark is Montréal-Nord in October?
- Montréal-Nord averages 12.0 hours of civil night a night in October 2026, from 11 h 15 min on the 1st to 12 h 44 min on the last night.
- How cloudy is Montréal-Nord in October?
- NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Montréal-Nord's 1 degree cell 68% mean cloud in October, against 65% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
- What is the best night in October 2026 for aurora in Montréal-Nord?
- By darkness and moon alone, Oct 5, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Montréal-Nord. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
- Is October or November better in Montréal-Nord?
- By civil night times the clear share, October scores 3.8 hours at Montréal-Nord and November 3.8. October 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.