Can you see the southern lights in Queenstown in January?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Queenstown have civil darkness, and 0% of past January days reached Kp 9.

How dark is Queenstown in January?

Queenstown averages 7.6 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 7 h 6 min on the 1st to 8 h 10 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Queenstown in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Queenstown's 1 degree cell 70% mean cloud in January, against 67% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Queenstown?

By darkness and moon alone, Jan 8, with 3 h 46 min of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Queenstown. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.

Is January or February better in Queenstown?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 2.3 hours at Queenstown and February 3.1. February comes out ahead.

Queenstown · January 2027

Southern lights in Queenstown in January 2027

Answer

January gives Queenstown 7.5 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 11th darkest of its 12 months, under 70% mean cloud. 0% of January days since 1996 reached Kp 9, enough for the oval edge to reach Queenstown.

7.6 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for -45.03, 168.66; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

2.3

3.1

3.7

4.2

4.5

5.0

5.1

4.3

3.6

2.9

2.2

1.9

January cloud at Queenstown averages 70% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 3 points cloudier than its yearly mean. July is Queenstown's clearest month at 63%. By civil night times clear sky, January scores 2.3 hours at Queenstown, 10th of 12. Anadyr, 12,230 km away, averages 58%, clearer by 12 points.

Civil night at Queenstown starts January at 7 h 6 min and reaches 8 h 10 min by January 31 as the nights lengthen by 1.1 hours. The 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on 7 of 31 nights. True astronomical darkness, the sun 18 degrees down, lasts 4.0 hours on the 15th.

January night by night

January opens toward a new moon on Jan 8, with full moon on Jan 23, in Pacific/Auckland dates. Queenstown gets 119 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 8 (3 h 46 min), Jan 4 (3 h 45 min), Jan 5 (3 h 45 min).

1
33% lit
3.5 h
2
24% lit
3.9 h
3
17% lit
4.4 h
4
10% lit
5.0 h
5
5% lit
5.8 h
6
2% lit
6.7 h
7
0% lit
7.2 h
8
0% lit
7.3 h
New
9
2% lit
7.1 h
10
6% lit
6.7 h
11
11% lit
6.4 h
12
18% lit
6.1 h
13
26% lit
5.8 h
14
36% lit
5.6 h
15
46% lit
5.3 h
16
57% lit
4.9 h
17
67% lit
4.5 h
18
77% lit
3.8 h
19
86% lit
3.0 h
20
94% lit
1.9 h
21
98% lit
0.6 h
22
100% lit
0.0 h
23
99% lit
0.0 h
Full
24
95% lit
0.4 h
25
88% lit
0.8 h
26
80% lit
1.1 h
27
70% lit
1.5 h
28
60% lit
1.9 h
29
50% lit
2.3 h
30
40% lit
2.8 h
31
31% lit
3.4 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 Januarys

Queenstown needs Kp 9 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 0 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (0%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 4th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 6%. Queenstown sits at 48.8 degrees geomagnetic. The lowest NOAA storm level whose typical viewing latitude reaches it is G4 (Kp = 8, including a 9-). By SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead only at Kp 9.

January across New Zealand

Coming from December (7.0 hours at Queenstown), January adds darkness, and the nights keep growing into February (9.0 hours on the 15th).

Darkness and moon, every night

Queenstown, 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	7 h 6 min	3 h 14 min	3 h 29 min	3 h 29 min	33%
Sat Jan 2	7 h 7 min	3 h 16 min	3 h 54 min	3 h 44 min	24%
Sun Jan 3	7 h 8 min	3 h 19 min	4 h 24 min	3 h 44 min	17%
Mon Jan 4	7 h 10 min	3 h 21 min	5 h 1 min	3 h 45 min	10%
Tue Jan 5	7 h 11 min	3 h 24 min	5 h 46 min	3 h 45 min	5%
Wed Jan 6	7 h 12 min	3 h 27 min	6 h 40 min	3 h 45 min	2%
Thu Jan 7	7 h 14 min	3 h 30 min	7 h 14 min	3 h 45 min	0%
Fri Jan 8	7 h 16 min	3 h 33 min	7 h 16 min	3 h 46 min	0%
Sat Jan 9	7 h 17 min	3 h 37 min	7 h 4 min	3 h 33 min	2%
Sun Jan 10	7 h 19 min	3 h 40 min	6 h 42 min	3 h 9 min	6%
Mon Jan 11	7 h 21 min	3 h 44 min	6 h 23 min	2 h 50 min	11%
Tue Jan 12	7 h 23 min	3 h 47 min	6 h 7 min	2 h 32 min	18%
Wed Jan 13	7 h 25 min	3 h 51 min	5 h 51 min	2 h 15 min	26%
Thu Jan 14	7 h 27 min	3 h 55 min	5 h 35 min	1 h 57 min	36%
Fri Jan 15	7 h 29 min	3 h 59 min	5 h 17 min	1 h 38 min	46%
Sat Jan 16	7 h 31 min	4 h 3 min	4 h 55 min	1 h 15 min	57%
Sun Jan 17	7 h 33 min	4 h 7 min	4 h 28 min	46 min	67%
Mon Jan 18	7 h 36 min	4 h 11 min	3 h 50 min	7 min	77%
Tue Jan 19	7 h 38 min	4 h 15 min	3 h	0 min	86%
Wed Jan 20	7 h 41 min	4 h 19 min	1 h 53 min	0 min	94%
Thu Jan 21	7 h 43 min	4 h 24 min	33 min	0 min	98%
Fri Jan 22	7 h 46 min	4 h 28 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sat Jan 23	7 h 48 min	4 h 32 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Sun Jan 24	7 h 51 min	4 h 37 min	24 min	24 min	95%
Mon Jan 25	7 h 53 min	4 h 41 min	46 min	46 min	88%
Tue Jan 26	7 h 56 min	4 h 46 min	1 h 7 min	1 h 7 min	80%
Wed Jan 27	7 h 59 min	4 h 50 min	1 h 28 min	1 h 27 min	70%
Thu Jan 28	8 h 2 min	4 h 54 min	1 h 51 min	1 h 48 min	60%
Fri Jan 29	8 h 5 min	4 h 59 min	2 h 16 min	2 h 12 min	50%
Sat Jan 30	8 h 8 min	5 h 3 min	2 h 45 min	2 h 41 min	40%
Sun Jan 31	8 h 10 min	5 h 8 min	3 h 21 min	3 h 15 min	31%

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

Questions

Can you see the southern lights in Queenstown in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Queenstown have civil darkness, and 0% of past January days reached Kp 9.
How dark is Queenstown in January?: Queenstown averages 7.6 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 7 h 6 min on the 1st to 8 h 10 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Queenstown in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Queenstown's 1 degree cell 70% mean cloud in January, against 67% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Queenstown?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 8, with 3 h 46 min of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Queenstown. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Queenstown?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 2.3 hours at Queenstown and February 3.1. February 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.