Ontario, Canada
Northern lights in Peterborough
Answer
Tonight
Waiting on darkness
It is not civil-dark yet. The next dusk is listed below.
Observed 11:55 UTC, forecast 13:26 UTC, 91 min lead
Clock times in America/Toronto
Storm level needed
Peterborough sits at 44.30N 78.32W in Ontario, Canada. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts Peterborough at 53.5 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 9.2 degrees closer to the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. Peterborough sits at 53.5 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 7.
"aurora has been seen as low as Illinois and Oregon (typically 50° geomagnetic lat.)"
The nearest other Glow towns are Oshawa (62 km), Ajax (76 km), Belleville (76 km). Oshawa sits 0.4 degrees lower on the dipole and needs the same Kp.
Approximate: SWPC calls its Kp to latitude rule an average, and a centered dipole can differ by a degree from fuller field models. How the storm level is matched
The year in darkness
Every night of 2026 at Peterborough has some civil darkness; the shortest month sample still has 7.2 hours. Every evening of the year at Peterborough clears Glow's dark-season bar of 4 hours of civil night between 18:00 and 06:00. Peterborough's longest night of the year, Dec 19, has 13 h 57 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at Peterborough, when the sun is lowest, falls at 00:08 on local clocks on December 15 and 01:14 on June 15. That is 8 min after midnight in December and 1 h 14 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at Peterborough the darkest hour sits near the middle of SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window in winter.
Month by month
| Month | Night | Civil | Cloud | Clear dark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 13.6 h | 11.2 h | 76% | 3.3 h | |
| Feb | 12.4 h | 10.2 h | 73% | 3.3 h | |
| Mar | 11.0 h | 8.7 h | 66% | 3.7 h | |
| Apr | 9.4 h | 6.8 h | 65% | 3.3 h | |
| May | 8.0 h | 4.8 h | 63% | 3.0 h | |
| Jun | 7.2 h | 3.4 h | 60% | 2.9 h | |
| Jul | 7.5 h | 4.1 h | 53% | 3.6 h | |
| Aug | 8.8 h | 6.1 h | 52% | 4.3 h | |
| Sep | 10.4 h | 8.1 h | 52% | 5.0 hbest | |
| Oct | 11.9 h | 9.7 h | 69% | 3.7 h | |
| Nov | 13.3 h | 10.9 h | 73% | 3.6 h | |
| Dec | 13.9 h | 11.5 h | 79% | 2.9 h |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at Peterborough with 13.9 hours of civil night and June the lightest at 7.2. Across the year Peterborough gets 3,875 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at Peterborough, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 11.5 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around Peterborough at 65% across the year, from 52% in August to 79% in December. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night Peterborough averages 65%, against a median of 67% for Glow towns in Canada.
Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky gives September the best score, 5.0 hours, ahead of August at 4.3. Peterborough's equinox months score 3.7 in March and 5.0 in September, the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.
Kp history
From 1996 to 2025, the GFZ Potsdam record shows a 3-hour Kp of 7 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge over Peterborough, on 1% of days. At Peterborough's level the share runs from 0% in February to 2% in October, while storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 10%.
Share of UTC days in each calendar month whose highest 3-hour Kp reached Kp 7. Kp history by year
Moon, next 30 nights
Over the 30 nights from Oct 1, the new moon falls on Oct 10 and the full moon on Oct 26, in America/Toronto dates. 14 of the 30 nights at Peterborough have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 5 has the most at 4 h. Tonight Peterborough has 11 h 15 min of civil night, 2 h 15 min of it with the moon down.
- 1
66% lit
2.3 h
- 2
55% lit
3.4 h
- 3
43% lit
4.6 h
- 4
32% lit
6.0 h
- 5
22% lit
7.3 h
- 6
14% lit
8.6 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
11.3 h
- 14
19% lit
10.7 h
- 15
27% lit
9.9 h
- 16
36% lit
9.1 h
- 17
45% lit
8.1 h
- 18
55% lit
7.0 h
- 19
64% lit
5.9 h
- 20
73% lit
4.8 h
- 21
82% lit
3.7 h
- 22
89% lit
2.5 h
- 23
95% lit
1.3 h
- 24
99% lit
0.1 h
- 25
100% lit
0.0 h
- 26
98% lit
0.0 h
- 27
94% lit
0.1 h
- 28
88% lit
0.9 h
- 29
79% lit
1.9 h
- 30
69% lit
3.2 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.
Within Canada
Among the 37 Glow towns in Ontario, Peterborough ranks 13th by dipole latitude against a regional median of 53.0 degrees; Kenora sits highest at 58.2. Among the 130 Glow towns in Canada, Peterborough ranks 106th by dipole latitude against a national median of 55.3 degrees; Yellowknife sits highest at 68.5. On December 15 Peterborough gets 13.9 hours of civil night, 105th longest of 130 in Canada, where the median is 14.2.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Peterborough?
- Peterborough sits at 53.5 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 7. Clear, dark sky over Peterborough still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in Peterborough?
- Every night at Peterborough has civil darkness. Tonight has 11 h 15 min, and December 15 has 13.9 hours.
- What is the best month for aurora in Peterborough?
- September, by civil night at Peterborough times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is Peterborough in the dark months?
- About 65% mean cloud amount over Peterborough in the months with at least 4 hours of civil night, from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology.
- How often is activity high enough for Peterborough?
- A 3-hour Kp of 7 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge overhead, occurred on 1% of days from 1996 to 2025 in the GFZ Potsdam record.
Nearby and related
Nearest Glow towns
Peterborough by month
Region and comparisons