Can you see the northern lights in Motherwell in May?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Motherwell have civil darkness, and 22% of past May days reached Kp 4.

How dark is Motherwell in May?

Motherwell averages 5.8 hours of civil night a night in May 2027, from 7 h on the 1st to 4 h 47 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Motherwell in May?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Motherwell's 1 degree cell 74% mean cloud in May, against 77% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in May 2027 for aurora in Motherwell?

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

Is May or June better in Motherwell?

By civil night times the clear share, May scores 1.5 hours at Motherwell and June 0.8. May comes out ahead.

Motherwell · May 2027

Northern lights in Motherwell in May 2027

Answer

May gives Motherwell 5.9 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 10th darkest of its 12 months, under 74% mean cloud. 22% of May days since 1996 reached Kp 4, enough for the oval edge to reach Motherwell.

5.8 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 55.79, -3.99; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

May against the rest of the year

3.1

3.0

2.5

2.1

1.5

0.8

1.1

1.6

2.4

2.9

3.4

3.5

May cloud at Motherwell averages 74% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 3 points clearer than its yearly mean. No month at Motherwell is clearer. By civil night times clear sky, May scores 1.5 hours at Motherwell, 10th of 12. Glasgow, 19 km away, averages 71%, clearer by 3 points.

Civil night at Motherwell starts May at 7 h and reaches 4 h 47 min by May 31, 2.2 hours shorter. The 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on 8 of 31 nights. The sun never reaches 18 degrees down, so Motherwell gets no astronomical night in May.

May night by night

May opens toward a new moon on May 6, with full moon on May 20, in Europe/London dates. Motherwell gets 94 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: May 1 (4 h), May 2 (4 h), May 3 (4 h).

1
22% lit
6.4 h
2
14% lit
6.5 h
3
8% lit
6.5 h
4
3% lit
6.7 h
5
1% lit
6.7 h
6
1% lit
6.5 h
New
7
3% lit
5.0 h
8
8% lit
3.7 h
9
16% lit
2.7 h
10
25% lit
2.1 h
11
36% lit
1.7 h
12
47% lit
1.4 h
13
59% lit
1.2 h
14
69% lit
1.1 h
15
79% lit
0.9 h
16
87% lit
0.7 h
17
93% lit
0.5 h
18
97% lit
0.3 h
19
100% lit
0.0 h
20
100% lit
0.1 h
Full
21
98% lit
1.2 h
22
94% lit
2.0 h
23
89% lit
2.6 h
24
82% lit
2.9 h
25
74% lit
3.1 h
26
65% lit
3.3 h
27
56% lit
3.4 h
28
46% lit
3.5 h
29
37% lit
3.5 h
30
27% lit
3.6 h
31
18% lit
3.8 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 Mays

Motherwell needs Kp 4 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 206 of the 930 May days from 1996 to 2025 (22%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 8th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 10%. Motherwell sits at 58.1 degrees geomagnetic. By SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 4, and aurora is usually visible on the northern horizon at G1 (Kp 5) or less.

May across United Kingdom

Motherwell ranks 23rd in United Kingdom for civil night on May 15, behind Stoke-on-Trent at 6.5 hours. Coming from April (8.3 hours at Motherwell), May loses darkness, and June brings shorter nights (4.2 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on May 15 and May cloud, month-page towns in United Kingdom
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Stoke-on-Trent	6.5 h	72%
Mansfield	6.5 h	71%
Chesterfield	6.5 h	71%
Lincoln	6.5 h	71%
Manchester, England	6.4 h	72%
Sheffield	6.4 h	71%
Leeds	6.4 h	71%
Liverpool	6.4 h	72%
Kingston upon Hull	6.4 h	71%
Preston	6.4 h	72%
St Helens	6.4 h	72%
Burnley	6.4 h	72%
Motherwell	5.9 h	74%

Darkness and moon, every night

Motherwell, May 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
Sat May 1	7 h	1 h 18 min	6 h 23 min	4 h	22%
Sun May 2	6 h 55 min	48 min	6 h 27 min	4 h	14%
Mon May 3	6 h 50 min	0 min	6 h 33 min	4 h	8%
Tue May 4	6 h 45 min	0 min	6 h 41 min	4 h	3%
Wed May 5	6 h 40 min	0 min	6 h 40 min	4 h	1%
Thu May 6	6 h 35 min	0 min	6 h 31 min	4 h	1%
Fri May 7	6 h 30 min	0 min	4 h 59 min	2 h 32 min	3%
Sat May 8	6 h 25 min	0 min	3 h 40 min	1 h 16 min	8%
Sun May 9	6 h 21 min	0 min	2 h 44 min	22 min	16%
Mon May 10	6 h 16 min	0 min	2 h 7 min	0 min	25%
Tue May 11	6 h 11 min	0 min	1 h 44 min	0 min	36%
Wed May 12	6 h 6 min	0 min	1 h 27 min	0 min	47%
Thu May 13	6 h 2 min	0 min	1 h 14 min	0 min	59%
Fri May 14	5 h 57 min	0 min	1 h 3 min	0 min	69%
Sat May 15	5 h 52 min	0 min	53 min	0 min	79%
Sun May 16	5 h 48 min	0 min	42 min	0 min	87%
Mon May 17	5 h 43 min	0 min	30 min	0 min	93%
Tue May 18	5 h 39 min	0 min	15 min	0 min	97%
Wed May 19	5 h 34 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Thu May 20	5 h 30 min	0 min	8 min	8 min	100%
Fri May 21	5 h 26 min	0 min	1 h 14 min	1 h 14 min	98%
Sat May 22	5 h 21 min	0 min	2 h 3 min	2 h 3 min	94%
Sun May 23	5 h 17 min	0 min	2 h 35 min	2 h 35 min	89%
Mon May 24	5 h 13 min	0 min	2 h 55 min	2 h 55 min	82%
Tue May 25	5 h 9 min	0 min	3 h 8 min	3 h 8 min	74%
Wed May 26	5 h 5 min	0 min	3 h 17 min	3 h 17 min	65%
Thu May 27	5 h 1 min	0 min	3 h 23 min	3 h 18 min	56%
Fri May 28	4 h 57 min	0 min	3 h 28 min	3 h 16 min	46%
Sat May 29	4 h 54 min	0 min	3 h 33 min	3 h 14 min	37%
Sun May 30	4 h 50 min	0 min	3 h 39 min	3 h 12 min	27%
Mon May 31	4 h 47 min	0 min	3 h 46 min	3 h 10 min	18%

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

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Motherwell in May?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Motherwell have civil darkness, and 22% of past May days reached Kp 4.
How dark is Motherwell in May?: Motherwell averages 5.8 hours of civil night a night in May 2027, from 7 h on the 1st to 4 h 47 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Motherwell in May?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Motherwell's 1 degree cell 74% mean cloud in May, against 77% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in May 2027 for aurora in Motherwell?: By darkness and moon alone, May 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Motherwell. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is May or June better in Motherwell?: By civil night times the clear share, May scores 1.5 hours at Motherwell and June 0.8. May 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.