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Sault Ste. Marie · January 2027

Northern lights in Sault Ste. Marie in January 2027

Answer

January gives Sault Ste. Marie 13.8 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 80% mean cloud. 2% of January days since 1996 reached Kp 6, enough for the oval edge to reach Sault Ste. Marie.
13.7 h
civil night, average night
SunCalc for 46.52, -84.33; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

January cloud at Sault Ste. Marie averages 80% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 5 points cloudier than its yearly mean. August is Sault Ste. Marie's clearest month at 66%. By civil night times clear sky, January scores 2.8 hours at Sault Ste. Marie, 5th of 12. Greater Sudbury, 256 km away, averages 70%, clearer by 10 points.

Civil night at Sault Ste. Marie starts January at 14 h 5 min and reaches 13 h 11 min by January 31, 0.9 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 11.3 hours on the 15th.

January night by night

January opens toward a new moon on Jan 7, with full moon on Jan 22, in America/Toronto dates. Sault Ste. Marie gets 234 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. 1

    27% lit

    10.3 h

  2. 2

    18% lit

    11.4 h

  3. 3

    12% lit

    12.5 h

  4. 4

    6% lit

    13.4 h

  5. 5

    3% lit

    14.0 h

  6. 6

    0% lit

    14.0 h

  7. 7

    0% lit

    14.0 h

  8. 8

    2% lit

    13.8 h

  9. 9

    5% lit

    12.7 h

  10. 10

    10% lit

    11.6 h

  11. 11

    16% lit

    10.4 h

  12. 12

    24% lit

    9.3 h

  13. 13

    33% lit

    8.2 h

  14. 14

    43% lit

    7.0 h

  15. 15

    54% lit

    5.8 h

  16. 16

    65% lit

    4.5 h

  17. 17

    75% lit

    3.1 h

  18. 18

    84% lit

    1.8 h

  19. 19

    92% lit

    0.7 h

  20. 20

    97% lit

    0.0 h

  21. 21

    100% lit

    0.0 h

  22. 22

    99% lit

    0.0 h

  23. 23

    96% lit

    1.3 h

  24. 24

    90% lit

    2.6 h

  25. 25

    82% lit

    3.9 h

  26. 26

    73% lit

    5.1 h

  27. 27

    63% lit

    6.3 h

  28. 28

    53% lit

    7.5 h

  29. 29

    43% lit

    8.7 h

  30. 30

    33% lit

    9.8 h

  31. 31

    25% lit

    10.8 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

Sault Ste. Marie needs Kp 6 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 17 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (2%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, one of the three quietest months for that level; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 6%. Sault Ste. Marie sits at 55.5 degrees geomagnetic. By SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 6, and aurora is usually visible on the northern horizon at G1 (Kp 5) or less.

January across Canada

Sault Ste. Marie ranks 20th in Canada for civil night on January 15, behind Yellowknife at 15.8 hours. Coming from December (14.1 hours at Sault Ste. Marie), January loses darkness, and February brings shorter nights (12.5 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on January 15 and January cloud, month-page towns in Canada
TownCivil nightCloud
Yellowknife15.8 h56%
Whitehorse15.4 h67%
Fort McMurray14.8 h66%
Fort St. John14.8 h70%
Grande Prairie14.6 h71%
Edmonton14.5 h71%
Prince Albert14.4 h68%
Lloydminster14.4 h70%
Saskatoon14.3 h68%
Red Deer14.3 h71%
Calgary14.2 h70%
Winnipeg14.1 h64%
Sault Ste. Marie13.8 h80%

Darkness and moon, every night

Sault Ste. Marie, January 2027: each night from local noon to the next noon
NightCivilAstronomicalMoon-free darkMoon-free, 10 PM to 2 AMMoon lit
Fri Jan 114 h 5 min11 h 35 min10 h 16 min4 h27%
Sat Jan 214 h 4 min11 h 35 min11 h 24 min4 h18%
Sun Jan 314 h 3 min11 h 34 min12 h 28 min4 h12%
Mon Jan 414 h 2 min11 h 33 min13 h 26 min4 h6%
Tue Jan 514 h 1 min11 h 32 min14 h 1 min4 h3%
Wed Jan 613 h 59 min11 h 31 min13 h 59 min4 h0%
Thu Jan 713 h 58 min11 h 30 min13 h 58 min4 h0%
Fri Jan 813 h 57 min11 h 29 min13 h 49 min4 h2%
Sat Jan 913 h 55 min11 h 28 min12 h 41 min4 h5%
Sun Jan 1013 h 54 min11 h 26 min11 h 34 min4 h10%
Mon Jan 1113 h 53 min11 h 25 min10 h 27 min4 h16%
Tue Jan 1213 h 51 min11 h 24 min9 h 19 min3 h 38 min24%
Wed Jan 1313 h 49 min11 h 22 min8 h 11 min2 h 30 min33%
Thu Jan 1413 h 48 min11 h 21 min7 h1 h 20 min43%
Fri Jan 1513 h 46 min11 h 19 min5 h 45 min6 min54%
Sat Jan 1613 h 44 min11 h 18 min4 h 27 min0 min65%
Sun Jan 1713 h 42 min11 h 16 min3 h 6 min0 min75%
Mon Jan 1813 h 40 min11 h 14 min1 h 49 min0 min84%
Tue Jan 1913 h 38 min11 h 13 min43 min0 min92%
Wed Jan 2013 h 36 min11 h 11 min0 min0 min97%
Thu Jan 2113 h 34 min11 h 9 min0 min0 min100%
Fri Jan 2213 h 32 min11 h 7 min0 min0 min99%
Sat Jan 2313 h 30 min11 h 5 min1 h 16 min0 min96%
Sun Jan 2413 h 28 min11 h 3 min2 h 37 min0 min90%
Mon Jan 2513 h 25 min11 h 1 min3 h 54 min1 min82%
Tue Jan 2613 h 23 min10 h 59 min5 h 8 min1 h 17 min73%
Wed Jan 2713 h 21 min10 h 57 min6 h 21 min2 h 30 min63%
Thu Jan 2813 h 18 min10 h 55 min7 h 32 min3 h 43 min53%
Fri Jan 2913 h 16 min10 h 53 min8 h 41 min4 h43%
Sat Jan 3013 h 13 min10 h 50 min9 h 47 min4 h33%
Sun Jan 3113 h 11 min10 h 48 min10 h 47 min4 h25%
Moon lit: SunCalc illuminated fraction at the middle of the 10 PM to 2 AM window.

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Sault Ste. Marie in January?
On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Sault Ste. Marie have civil darkness, and 2% of past January days reached Kp 6.
How dark is Sault Ste. Marie in January?
Sault Ste. Marie averages 13.7 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 14 h 5 min on the 1st to 13 h 11 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Sault Ste. Marie in January?
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Sault Ste. Marie's 1 degree cell 80% mean cloud in January, against 75% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Sault Ste. Marie?
By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Sault Ste. Marie. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Sault Ste. Marie?
By civil night times the clear share, January scores 2.8 hours at Sault Ste. Marie and February 2.7. January comes out ahead.

Sources and verification

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.