Quebec, Canada
Northern lights in Saint-Hyacinthe
Answer
Tonight
Waiting on darkness
It is not civil-dark yet. The next dusk is listed below.
Observed 11:49 UTC, forecast 13:20 UTC, 91 min lead
Clock times in America/Toronto
Storm level needed
Saint-Hyacinthe sits at 45.63N 72.96W in Quebec, Canada. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts Saint-Hyacinthe at 54.8 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 9.2 degrees closer to the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. Saint-Hyacinthe sits at 54.8 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 6.
"aurora has been seen as low as Illinois and Oregon (typically 50° geomagnetic lat.)"
The nearest other Glow towns are Granby (31 km), Repentigny (40 km), Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (43 km). Granby sits 0.2 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 Saint-Hyacinthe has some civil darkness; the shortest month sample still has 6.9 hours. Every evening of the year at Saint-Hyacinthe clears Glow's dark-season bar of 4 hours of civil night between 18:00 and 06:00. Saint-Hyacinthe's longest night of the year, Dec 17, has 14 h 4 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at Saint-Hyacinthe, when the sun is lowest, falls at 23:47 on local clocks on December 15 and 00:52 on June 15. That is 13 min before midnight in December and 52 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at Saint-Hyacinthe 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 | 13.7 h | 11.3 h | 69% | 4.2 h | |
| Feb | 12.4 h | 10.2 h | 68% | 4.0 h | |
| Mar | 11.0 h | 8.7 h | 65% | 3.8 h | |
| Apr | 9.3 h | 6.7 h | 67% | 3.1 h | |
| May | 7.8 h | 4.5 h | 66% | 2.7 h | |
| Jun | 6.9 h | 2.8 h | 62% | 2.6 h | |
| Jul | 7.3 h | 3.7 h | 58% | 3.1 h | |
| Aug | 8.7 h | 5.9 h | 57% | 3.7 h | |
| Sep | 10.4 h | 8.0 h | 54% | 4.8 hbest | |
| Oct | 12.0 h | 9.7 h | 68% | 3.8 h | |
| Nov | 13.3 h | 11.0 h | 72% | 3.8 h | |
| Dec | 14.1 h | 11.6 h | 76% | 3.4 h |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at Saint-Hyacinthe with 14.1 hours of civil night and June the lightest at 6.9. Across the year Saint-Hyacinthe gets 3,859 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at Saint-Hyacinthe, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 11.6 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around Saint-Hyacinthe at 65% across the year, from 54% in September to 76% in December. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night Saint-Hyacinthe 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, 4.8 hours, ahead of January at 4.2. Saint-Hyacinthe's equinox months score 3.8 in March and 4.8 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 6 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge over Saint-Hyacinthe, on 3% of days. At Saint-Hyacinthe's level the share runs from 1% in December to 5% 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 6. 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. 15 of the 30 nights at Saint-Hyacinthe have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 5 has the most at 4 h. Tonight Saint-Hyacinthe has 11 h 15 min of civil night, 2 h 8 min of it with the moon down.
- 1
66% lit
2.1 h
- 2
55% lit
3.2 h
- 3
43% lit
4.5 h
- 4
32% lit
5.8 h
- 5
22% lit
7.2 h
- 6
14% lit
8.5 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
11.4 h
- 14
19% lit
10.8 h
- 15
27% lit
10.1 h
- 16
36% lit
9.2 h
- 17
45% lit
8.2 h
- 18
55% lit
7.1 h
- 19
64% lit
6.0 h
- 20
73% lit
4.9 h
- 21
82% lit
3.7 h
- 22
89% lit
2.6 h
- 23
95% lit
1.4 h
- 24
99% lit
0.1 h
- 25
100% lit
0.0 h
- 26
98% lit
0.0 h
- 27
94% lit
0.0 h
- 28
88% lit
0.8 h
- 29
79% lit
1.9 h
- 30
69% lit
3.1 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 31 Glow towns in Quebec, Saint-Hyacinthe ranks 25th by dipole latitude against a regional median of 55.3 degrees; Sept-Îles sits highest at 59.3. Among the 130 Glow towns in Canada, Saint-Hyacinthe ranks 83rd by dipole latitude against a national median of 55.3 degrees; Yellowknife sits highest at 68.5. On December 15 Saint-Hyacinthe gets 14.1 hours of civil night, 70th longest of 130 in Canada, where the median is 14.2.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Saint-Hyacinthe?
- Saint-Hyacinthe sits at 54.8 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 6. Clear, dark sky over Saint-Hyacinthe still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in Saint-Hyacinthe?
- Every night at Saint-Hyacinthe has civil darkness. Tonight has 11 h 15 min, and December 15 has 14.1 hours.
- What is the best month for aurora in Saint-Hyacinthe?
- September, by civil night at Saint-Hyacinthe times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is Saint-Hyacinthe in the dark months?
- About 65% mean cloud amount over Saint-Hyacinthe 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 Saint-Hyacinthe?
- A 3-hour Kp of 6 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge overhead, occurred on 3% of days from 1996 to 2025 in the GFZ Potsdam record.
Nearby and related
Nearest Glow towns
Saint-Hyacinthe by month
Region and comparisons