Can you see the northern lights in Nar'yan-Mar in January?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Nar'yan-Mar have civil darkness, and 48% of past January days reached Kp 3.

How dark is Nar'yan-Mar in January?

Nar'yan-Mar averages 16.9 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 18 h 1 min on the 1st to 15 h 31 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Nar'yan-Mar in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Nar'yan-Mar's 1 degree cell 70% mean cloud in January, against 77% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Nar'yan-Mar?

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

Is January or February better in Nar'yan-Mar?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 5.1 hours at Nar'yan-Mar and February 3.9. January comes out ahead.

Nar'yan-Mar · January 2027

Northern lights in Nar'yan-Mar in January 2027

Answer

January gives Nar'yan-Mar 17.1 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 70% mean cloud. 48% of January days since 1996 reached Kp 3, enough for the oval edge to reach Nar'yan-Mar.

16.9 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 67.64, 53.00; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

5.1

3.9

2.7

1.3

0.0

0.7

1.8

1.5

2.9

3.8

January cloud at Nar'yan-Mar averages 70% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 7 points clearer than its yearly mean. No month at Nar'yan-Mar is clearer. That makes January the best month of Nar'yan-Mar's year by civil night times clear sky, 5.1 hours. Narian-Mar, 5 km away, averages the same 70%.

Civil night at Nar'yan-Mar starts January at 18 h 1 min and reaches 15 h 31 min by January 31, 2.5 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 12.3 hours on the 15th.

January night by night

January opens toward a new moon on Jan 7, with full moon on Jan 22, in Europe/Moscow dates. Nar'yan-Mar gets 306 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
30% lit
14.4 h
2
21% lit
18.0 h
3
14% lit
17.9 h
4
8% lit
17.9 h
5
4% lit
17.8 h
6
1% lit
17.8 h
7
0% lit
17.7 h
New
8
1% lit
17.6 h
9
4% lit
17.6 h
10
8% lit
15.5 h
11
14% lit
13.6 h
12
21% lit
11.9 h
13
30% lit
10.1 h
14
40% lit
8.3 h
15
50% lit
6.3 h
16
61% lit
3.8 h
17
72% lit
0.0 h
18
81% 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
0.4 h
24
92% lit
2.6 h
25
85% lit
4.7 h
26
76% lit
6.6 h
27
66% lit
8.5 h
28
56% lit
10.8 h
29
46% lit
15.7 h
30
36% lit
15.6 h
31
27% lit
15.5 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

Nar'yan-Mar needs Kp 3 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 443 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (48%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 8th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 6%. Nar'yan-Mar sits at 61.3 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 3.

January across Russia

Nar'yan-Mar ranks 11th in Russia for civil night on January 15, behind Norilsk at 17.7 hours. Coming from December (18.2 hours at Nar'yan-Mar), January loses darkness, and February brings shorter nights (13.8 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on January 15 and January cloud, month-page towns in Russia
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Norilsk	17.7 h	55%
Talnakh	17.7 h	55%
Kayyerkan	17.7 h	56%
Dudinka	17.7 h	56%
Zapolyarnyy	17.7 h	81%
Nikel	17.7 h	81%
Severomorsk	17.6 h	83%
Murmansk	17.5 h	78%
Monchegorsk	17.2 h	75%
Olenegorsk	17.2 h	78%
Nar'yan-Mar	17.1 h	70%
Apatity	17.1 h	75%

Darkness and moon, every night

Nar'yan-Mar, 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	18 h 1 min	12 h 58 min	14 h 23 min	4 h	30%
Sat Jan 2	17 h 58 min	12 h 56 min	17 h 58 min	4 h	21%
Sun Jan 3	17 h 55 min	12 h 54 min	17 h 55 min	4 h	14%
Mon Jan 4	17 h 52 min	12 h 52 min	17 h 52 min	4 h	8%
Tue Jan 5	17 h 48 min	12 h 50 min	17 h 48 min	4 h	4%
Wed Jan 6	17 h 45 min	12 h 47 min	17 h 45 min	4 h	1%
Thu Jan 7	17 h 41 min	12 h 45 min	17 h 41 min	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	17 h 37 min	12 h 42 min	17 h 37 min	4 h	1%
Sat Jan 9	17 h 33 min	12 h 39 min	17 h 33 min	4 h	4%
Sun Jan 10	17 h 29 min	12 h 36 min	15 h 32 min	4 h	8%
Mon Jan 11	17 h 24 min	12 h 33 min	13 h 38 min	4 h	14%
Tue Jan 12	17 h 20 min	12 h 30 min	11 h 52 min	4 h	21%
Wed Jan 13	17 h 15 min	12 h 27 min	10 h 7 min	3 h 53 min	30%
Thu Jan 14	17 h 10 min	12 h 23 min	8 h 17 min	2 h 6 min	40%
Fri Jan 15	17 h 5 min	12 h 20 min	6 h 17 min	8 min	50%
Sat Jan 16	17 h	12 h 16 min	3 h 45 min	0 min	61%
Sun Jan 17	16 h 55 min	12 h 12 min	0 min	0 min	72%
Mon Jan 18	16 h 49 min	12 h 8 min	0 min	0 min	81%
Tue Jan 19	16 h 44 min	12 h 4 min	0 min	0 min	90%
Wed Jan 20	16 h 38 min	12 h	0 min	0 min	96%
Thu Jan 21	16 h 33 min	11 h 55 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Fri Jan 22	16 h 27 min	11 h 51 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sat Jan 23	16 h 21 min	11 h 46 min	24 min	0 min	97%
Sun Jan 24	16 h 15 min	11 h 42 min	2 h 39 min	0 min	92%
Mon Jan 25	16 h 9 min	11 h 37 min	4 h 40 min	0 min	85%
Tue Jan 26	16 h 3 min	11 h 32 min	6 h 34 min	12 min	76%
Wed Jan 27	15 h 57 min	11 h 27 min	8 h 28 min	2 h 10 min	66%
Thu Jan 28	15 h 50 min	11 h 22 min	10 h 48 min	4 h	56%
Fri Jan 29	15 h 44 min	11 h 17 min	15 h 44 min	4 h	46%
Sat Jan 30	15 h 38 min	11 h 12 min	15 h 38 min	4 h	36%
Sun Jan 31	15 h 31 min	11 h 6 min	15 h 31 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 Nar'yan-Mar in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Nar'yan-Mar have civil darkness, and 48% of past January days reached Kp 3.
How dark is Nar'yan-Mar in January?: Nar'yan-Mar averages 16.9 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 18 h 1 min on the 1st to 15 h 31 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Nar'yan-Mar in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Nar'yan-Mar's 1 degree cell 70% mean cloud in January, against 77% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Nar'yan-Mar?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Nar'yan-Mar. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Nar'yan-Mar?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 5.1 hours at Nar'yan-Mar and February 3.9. 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.