Can you see the northern lights in Rovaniemi in January?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Rovaniemi have civil darkness, and 78% of past January days reached Kp 2.

How dark is Rovaniemi in January?

Rovaniemi averages 16.6 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 17 h 35 min on the 1st to 15 h 17 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Rovaniemi in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Rovaniemi's 1 degree cell 78% mean cloud in January, against 74% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

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

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

Is January or February better in Rovaniemi?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 3.7 hours at Rovaniemi and February 3.3. January comes out ahead.

Rovaniemi · January 2027

Northern lights in Rovaniemi in January 2027

Answer

January gives Rovaniemi 16.7 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 78% mean cloud. 78% of January days since 1996 reached Kp 2, enough for the oval edge to reach Rovaniemi.

16.6 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 66.50, 25.69; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

3.7

3.3

3.2

1.8

0.0

1.2

2.2

2.4

3.0

3.4

January cloud at Rovaniemi averages 78% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 4 points cloudier than its yearly mean. March is Rovaniemi's clearest month at 69%. That makes January the best month of Rovaniemi's year by civil night times clear sky, 3.7 hours. Kemi, 99 km away, averages 79%, cloudier by 1 points.

Civil night at Rovaniemi starts January at 17 h 35 min and reaches 15 h 17 min by January 31, 2.3 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 12.2 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/Helsinki dates. Rovaniemi gets 298 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
29% lit
14.0 h
2
21% lit
17.5 h
3
14% lit
17.5 h
4
8% lit
17.4 h
5
3% lit
17.4 h
6
1% lit
17.4 h
7
0% lit
17.3 h
New
8
1% lit
17.2 h
9
4% lit
17.0 h
10
8% lit
15.0 h
11
14% lit
13.2 h
12
22% lit
11.5 h
13
31% lit
9.8 h
14
40% lit
8.1 h
15
51% lit
6.1 h
16
62% lit
3.9 h
17
72% lit
0.0 h
18
82% 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
0.6 h
24
92% lit
2.8 h
25
84% lit
4.7 h
26
75% lit
6.5 h
27
66% lit
8.3 h
28
56% lit
10.3 h
29
46% lit
13.5 h
30
36% lit
15.4 h
31
27% lit
15.3 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

Rovaniemi needs Kp 2 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 730 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (78%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 6th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 6%. Rovaniemi sits at 63.6 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 2.

January across Finland

No month-page town in Finland has more civil night on January 15 than Rovaniemi; the national median is 15.9 hours. Coming from December (17.7 hours at Rovaniemi), January loses darkness, and February brings shorter nights (13.7 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on January 15 and January cloud, month-page towns in Finland
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Rovaniemi	16.7 h	78%
Tornio	16.6 h	79%
Kemi	16.5 h	79%
Haukipudas	16.4 h	79%
Oulu	16.3 h	79%
Raahe	16.3 h	80%
Kajaani	16.2 h	76%
Kokkola	16.1 h	83%
Ylivieska	16.1 h	80%
Iisalmi	16.0 h	79%
Jakobstad	16.0 h	83%
Kuopio	15.9 h	80%

Darkness and moon, every night

Rovaniemi, 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	17 h 35 min	12 h 51 min	13 h 59 min	4 h	29%
Sat Jan 2	17 h 32 min	12 h 49 min	17 h 32 min	4 h	21%
Sun Jan 3	17 h 30 min	12 h 48 min	17 h 30 min	4 h	14%
Mon Jan 4	17 h 27 min	12 h 46 min	17 h 27 min	4 h	8%
Tue Jan 5	17 h 24 min	12 h 43 min	17 h 24 min	4 h	3%
Wed Jan 6	17 h 21 min	12 h 41 min	17 h 21 min	4 h	1%
Thu Jan 7	17 h 17 min	12 h 39 min	17 h 17 min	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	17 h 14 min	12 h 36 min	17 h 14 min	4 h	1%
Sat Jan 9	17 h 10 min	12 h 34 min	17 h	4 h	4%
Sun Jan 10	17 h 6 min	12 h 31 min	15 h	4 h	8%
Mon Jan 11	17 h 2 min	12 h 28 min	13 h 13 min	4 h	14%
Tue Jan 12	16 h 58 min	12 h 25 min	11 h 31 min	4 h	22%
Wed Jan 13	16 h 53 min	12 h 22 min	9 h 50 min	2 h 58 min	31%
Thu Jan 14	16 h 49 min	12 h 18 min	8 h 4 min	1 h 14 min	40%
Fri Jan 15	16 h 44 min	12 h 15 min	6 h 8 min	0 min	51%
Sat Jan 16	16 h 40 min	12 h 12 min	3 h 52 min	0 min	62%
Sun Jan 17	16 h 35 min	12 h 8 min	0 min	0 min	72%
Mon Jan 18	16 h 30 min	12 h 4 min	0 min	0 min	82%
Tue Jan 19	16 h 25 min	12 h	0 min	0 min	90%
Wed Jan 20	16 h 20 min	11 h 56 min	0 min	0 min	96%
Thu Jan 21	16 h 14 min	11 h 52 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Fri Jan 22	16 h 9 min	11 h 48 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sat Jan 23	16 h 4 min	11 h 44 min	38 min	0 min	97%
Sun Jan 24	15 h 58 min	11 h 39 min	2 h 45 min	0 min	92%
Mon Jan 25	15 h 52 min	11 h 35 min	4 h 41 min	0 min	84%
Tue Jan 26	15 h 47 min	11 h 30 min	6 h 31 min	1 h 6 min	75%
Wed Jan 27	15 h 41 min	11 h 25 min	8 h 21 min	3 h	66%
Thu Jan 28	15 h 35 min	11 h 21 min	10 h 18 min	4 h	56%
Fri Jan 29	15 h 29 min	11 h 16 min	13 h 29 min	4 h	46%
Sat Jan 30	15 h 23 min	11 h 11 min	15 h 23 min	4 h	36%
Sun Jan 31	15 h 17 min	11 h 6 min	15 h 17 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 Rovaniemi in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Rovaniemi have civil darkness, and 78% of past January days reached Kp 2.
How dark is Rovaniemi in January?: Rovaniemi averages 16.6 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 17 h 35 min on the 1st to 15 h 17 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Rovaniemi in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Rovaniemi's 1 degree cell 78% mean cloud in January, against 74% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Rovaniemi?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Rovaniemi. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Rovaniemi?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 3.7 hours at Rovaniemi and February 3.3. 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.