Can you see the northern lights in Sault Ste. Marie in March?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Sault Ste. Marie have civil darkness, and 3% of past March days reached Kp 6.

How dark is Sault Ste. Marie in March?

Sault Ste. Marie averages 10.9 hours of civil night a night in March 2027, from 11 h 46 min on the 1st to 10 h 6 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Sault Ste. Marie in March?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Sault Ste. Marie's 1 degree cell 73% mean cloud in March, against 75% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in March 2027 for aurora in Sault Ste. Marie?

By darkness and moon alone, Mar 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 March or April better in Sault Ste. Marie?

By civil night times the clear share, March scores 3.0 hours at Sault Ste. Marie and April 2.4. March comes out ahead.

Sault Ste. Marie · March 2027

Northern lights in Sault Ste. Marie in March 2027

Answer

March gives Sault Ste. Marie 11.0 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 6th darkest of its 12 months, under 73% mean cloud. 3% of March days since 1996 reached Kp 6, enough for the oval edge to reach Sault Ste. Marie.

10.9 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 46.52, -84.33; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

March against the rest of the year

2.8

2.7

3.0

2.4

1.8

1.7

2.2

2.9

3.5

2.9

2.4

2.7

March cloud at Sault Ste. Marie averages 73% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 2 points clearer than its yearly mean. August is Sault Ste. Marie's clearest month at 66%. By civil night times clear sky, March scores 3.0 hours at Sault Ste. Marie, 2nd of 12. Greater Sudbury, 256 km away, averages 60%, clearer by 13 points.

Civil night at Sault Ste. Marie starts March at 11 h 46 min and reaches 10 h 6 min by March 31, 1.7 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 8.6 hours on the 15th.

March night by night

March opens toward a new moon on Mar 8, with full moon on Mar 22, in America/Toronto dates. Sault Ste. Marie gets 187 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: Mar 1 (4 h), Mar 2 (4 h), Mar 3 (4 h).

1
32% lit
9.7 h
2
23% lit
10.3 h
3
16% lit
10.7 h
4
9% lit
11.1 h
5
5% lit
11.4 h
6
1% lit
11.5 h
7
0% lit
11.4 h
8
1% lit
11.3 h
New
9
4% lit
10.1 h
10
8% lit
8.9 h
11
15% lit
7.6 h
12
24% lit
6.3 h
13
34% lit
5.0 h
14
44% lit
3.8 h
15
56% lit
2.8 h
16
67% lit
2.0 h
17
77% lit
1.4 h
18
86% lit
0.8 h
19
93% lit
0.4 h
20
98% lit
0.1 h
21
100% lit
0.0 h
22
99% lit
0.3 h
Full
23
96% lit
1.5 h
24
91% lit
2.8 h
25
84% lit
4.0 h
26
76% lit
5.1 h
27
68% lit
6.1 h
28
58% lit
6.9 h
29
49% lit
7.6 h
30
40% lit
8.1 h
31
31% lit
8.5 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 Marchs

Sault Ste. Marie needs Kp 6 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 30 of the 930 March days from 1996 to 2025 (3%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 6th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 12%. 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.

March across Canada

No month-page town in Canada has more civil night on March 15 than Sault Ste. Marie; the national median is 10.9 hours. Coming from February (12.5 hours at Sault Ste. Marie), March loses darkness, and April brings shorter nights (9.2 hours on the 15th). The March equinox falls on March 20, 16:25 Sault Ste. Marie time, inside the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.

Civil night on March 15 and March cloud, month-page towns in Canada
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Sault Ste. Marie	11.0 h	73%
Québec	11.0 h	63%
Greater Sudbury	11.0 h	60%
Saguenay	11.0 h	66%
Trois-Rivières	11.0 h	62%
St. John's	11.0 h	80%
Thunder Bay	11.0 h	67%
Sydney	11.0 h	77%
Calgary	10.9 h	72%
Edmonton	10.9 h	72%
Winnipeg	10.9 h	61%
Saskatoon	10.9 h	68%

Darkness and moon, every night

Sault Ste. Marie, March 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
Mon Mar 1	11 h 46 min	9 h 26 min	9 h 39 min	4 h	32%
Tue Mar 2	11 h 43 min	9 h 23 min	10 h 15 min	4 h	23%
Wed Mar 3	11 h 39 min	9 h 19 min	10 h 43 min	4 h	16%
Thu Mar 4	11 h 36 min	9 h 16 min	11 h 6 min	4 h	9%
Fri Mar 5	11 h 33 min	9 h 13 min	11 h 24 min	4 h	5%
Sat Mar 6	11 h 30 min	9 h 9 min	11 h 30 min	4 h	1%
Sun Mar 7	11 h 26 min	9 h 6 min	11 h 26 min	4 h	0%
Mon Mar 8	11 h 23 min	9 h 2 min	11 h 19 min	4 h	1%
Tue Mar 9	11 h 20 min	8 h 59 min	10 h 7 min	4 h	4%
Wed Mar 10	11 h 16 min	8 h 55 min	8 h 53 min	4 h	8%
Thu Mar 11	11 h 13 min	8 h 52 min	7 h 36 min	3 h 12 min	15%
Fri Mar 12	11 h 10 min	8 h 48 min	6 h 17 min	1 h 56 min	24%
Sat Mar 13	11 h 7 min	8 h 45 min	5 h	0 min	34%
Sun Mar 14	11 h 3 min	8 h 41 min	3 h 48 min	0 min	44%
Mon Mar 15	11 h	8 h 37 min	2 h 47 min	0 min	56%
Tue Mar 16	10 h 56 min	8 h 34 min	1 h 59 min	0 min	67%
Wed Mar 17	10 h 53 min	8 h 30 min	1 h 21 min	0 min	77%
Thu Mar 18	10 h 50 min	8 h 26 min	51 min	0 min	86%
Fri Mar 19	10 h 46 min	8 h 23 min	26 min	0 min	93%
Sat Mar 20	10 h 43 min	8 h 19 min	4 min	0 min	98%
Sun Mar 21	10 h 40 min	8 h 15 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Mon Mar 22	10 h 36 min	8 h 11 min	15 min	0 min	99%
Tue Mar 23	10 h 33 min	8 h 8 min	1 h 30 min	0 min	96%
Wed Mar 24	10 h 29 min	8 h 4 min	2 h 45 min	1 h 13 min	91%
Thu Mar 25	10 h 26 min	8 h	3 h 57 min	2 h 27 min	84%
Fri Mar 26	10 h 23 min	7 h 56 min	5 h 5 min	3 h 36 min	76%
Sat Mar 27	10 h 19 min	7 h 52 min	6 h 5 min	4 h	68%
Sun Mar 28	10 h 16 min	7 h 48 min	6 h 55 min	4 h	58%
Mon Mar 29	10 h 12 min	7 h 44 min	7 h 35 min	4 h	49%
Tue Mar 30	10 h 9 min	7 h 40 min	8 h 6 min	4 h	40%
Wed Mar 31	10 h 6 min	7 h 36 min	8 h 30 min	4 h	31%

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 March?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Sault Ste. Marie have civil darkness, and 3% of past March days reached Kp 6.
How dark is Sault Ste. Marie in March?: Sault Ste. Marie averages 10.9 hours of civil night a night in March 2027, from 11 h 46 min on the 1st to 10 h 6 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Sault Ste. Marie in March?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Sault Ste. Marie's 1 degree cell 73% mean cloud in March, against 75% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in March 2027 for aurora in Sault Ste. Marie?: By darkness and moon alone, Mar 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 March or April better in Sault Ste. Marie?: By civil night times the clear share, March scores 3.0 hours at Sault Ste. Marie and April 2.4. March 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.