Sault Ste. Marie · May 2027
Northern lights in Sault Ste. Marie in May 2027
Answer
May against the rest of the year
May cloud at Sault Ste. Marie averages 77% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 2 points cloudier than its yearly mean. August is Sault Ste. Marie's clearest month at 66%. By civil night times clear sky, May scores 1.8 hours at Sault Ste. Marie, 11th of 12. Greater Sudbury, 256 km away, averages 64%, clearer by 13 points.
Civil night at Sault Ste. Marie starts May at 8 h 21 min and reaches 7 h 3 min by May 31, 1.3 hours shorter. The 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on 29 of 31 nights. True astronomical darkness, the sun 18 degrees down, lasts 4.2 hours on the 15th.
May night by night
May opens toward a new moon on May 6, with full moon on May 20, in America/Toronto dates. Sault Ste. Marie gets 121 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: May 1 (4 h), May 2 (4 h), May 3 (4 h).
- 1
20% lit
7.0 h
- 2
13% lit
7.3 h
- 3
6% lit
7.6 h
- 4
2% lit
8.0 h
- 5
0% lit
8.2 h
- 6
1% lit
7.8 h
- 7
4% lit
6.5 h
- 8
10% lit
5.3 h
- 9
18% lit
4.4 h
- 10
28% lit
3.6 h
- 11
38% lit
3.1 h
- 12
50% lit
2.6 h
- 13
61% lit
2.3 h
- 14
71% lit
1.9 h
- 15
81% lit
1.6 h
- 16
88% lit
1.2 h
- 17
94% lit
0.8 h
- 18
98% lit
0.4 h
- 19
100% lit
0.0 h
- 20
99% lit
0.3 h
- 21
97% lit
1.3 h
- 22
93% lit
2.1 h
- 23
87% lit
2.7 h
- 24
80% lit
3.2 h
- 25
72% lit
3.6 h
- 26
64% lit
4.0 h
- 27
54% lit
4.2 h
- 28
44% lit
4.5 h
- 29
35% lit
4.8 h
- 30
25% lit
5.0 h
- 31
17% lit
5.3 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 Mays
Sault Ste. Marie needs Kp 6 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 39 of the 930 May days from 1996 to 2025 (4%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 4th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 10%. 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.
May across Canada
No month-page town in Canada has more civil night on May 15 than Sault Ste. Marie; the national median is 7.0 hours. Coming from April (9.2 hours at Sault Ste. Marie), May loses darkness, and June brings shorter nights (6.8 hours on the 15th).
| Town | Civil night | Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Sault Ste. Marie | 7.7 h | 77% |
| Greater Sudbury | 7.7 h | 64% |
| Trois-Rivières | 7.7 h | 66% |
| Sydney | 7.7 h | 72% |
| Québec | 7.6 h | 69% |
| St. John's | 7.5 h | 77% |
| Saguenay | 7.4 h | 71% |
| Thunder Bay | 7.4 h | 73% |
| Lethbridge | 7.2 h | 65% |
| Winnipeg | 7.1 h | 60% |
| Kelowna | 7.1 h | 68% |
| Regina | 7.0 h | 62% |
Darkness and moon, every night
| Night | Civil | Astronomical | Moon-free dark | Moon-free, 10 PM to 2 AM | Moon lit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat May 1 | 8 h 21 min | 5 h 20 min | 7 h 3 min | 4 h | 20% |
| Sun May 2 | 8 h 18 min | 5 h 15 min | 7 h 18 min | 4 h | 13% |
| Mon May 3 | 8 h 15 min | 5 h 10 min | 7 h 36 min | 4 h | 6% |
| Tue May 4 | 8 h 12 min | 5 h 5 min | 7 h 57 min | 4 h | 2% |
| Wed May 5 | 8 h 9 min | 5 h 1 min | 8 h 9 min | 4 h | 0% |
| Thu May 6 | 8 h 6 min | 4 h 56 min | 7 h 48 min | 4 h | 1% |
| Fri May 7 | 8 h 3 min | 4 h 51 min | 6 h 30 min | 2 h 55 min | 4% |
| Sat May 8 | 8 h | 4 h 46 min | 5 h 19 min | 1 h 46 min | 10% |
| Sun May 9 | 7 h 57 min | 4 h 42 min | 4 h 22 min | 50 min | 18% |
| Mon May 10 | 7 h 54 min | 4 h 37 min | 3 h 38 min | 8 min | 28% |
| Tue May 11 | 7 h 51 min | 4 h 32 min | 3 h 5 min | 0 min | 38% |
| Wed May 12 | 7 h 48 min | 4 h 27 min | 2 h 38 min | 0 min | 50% |
| Thu May 13 | 7 h 45 min | 4 h 22 min | 2 h 15 min | 0 min | 61% |
| Fri May 14 | 7 h 42 min | 4 h 18 min | 1 h 55 min | 0 min | 71% |
| Sat May 15 | 7 h 40 min | 4 h 13 min | 1 h 35 min | 0 min | 81% |
| Sun May 16 | 7 h 37 min | 4 h 8 min | 1 h 14 min | 0 min | 88% |
| Mon May 17 | 7 h 34 min | 4 h 3 min | 51 min | 0 min | 94% |
| Tue May 18 | 7 h 32 min | 3 h 59 min | 24 min | 0 min | 98% |
| Wed May 19 | 7 h 29 min | 3 h 54 min | 0 min | 0 min | 100% |
| Thu May 20 | 7 h 27 min | 3 h 49 min | 18 min | 9 min | 99% |
| Fri May 21 | 7 h 24 min | 3 h 45 min | 1 h 17 min | 1 h 9 min | 97% |
| Sat May 22 | 7 h 22 min | 3 h 40 min | 2 h 6 min | 1 h 59 min | 93% |
| Sun May 23 | 7 h 20 min | 3 h 35 min | 2 h 44 min | 2 h 38 min | 87% |
| Mon May 24 | 7 h 17 min | 3 h 31 min | 3 h 14 min | 3 h 10 min | 80% |
| Tue May 25 | 7 h 15 min | 3 h 26 min | 3 h 38 min | 3 h 34 min | 72% |
| Wed May 26 | 7 h 13 min | 3 h 22 min | 3 h 57 min | 3 h 55 min | 64% |
| Thu May 27 | 7 h 11 min | 3 h 17 min | 4 h 14 min | 4 h | 54% |
| Fri May 28 | 7 h 9 min | 3 h 13 min | 4 h 29 min | 4 h | 44% |
| Sat May 29 | 7 h 7 min | 3 h 9 min | 4 h 45 min | 3 h 59 min | 35% |
| Sun May 30 | 7 h 5 min | 3 h 4 min | 5 h 2 min | 3 h 58 min | 25% |
| Mon May 31 | 7 h 3 min | 3 h | 5 h 21 min | 3 h 57 min | 17% |
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Sault Ste. Marie in May?
- On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Sault Ste. Marie have civil darkness, and 4% of past May days reached Kp 6.
- How dark is Sault Ste. Marie in May?
- Sault Ste. Marie averages 7.6 hours of civil night a night in May 2027, from 8 h 21 min on the 1st to 7 h 3 min on the last night.
- How cloudy is Sault Ste. Marie in May?
- NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Sault Ste. Marie's 1 degree cell 77% mean cloud in May, against 75% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
- What is the best night in May 2027 for aurora in Sault Ste. Marie?
- By darkness and moon alone, May 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 May or June better in Sault Ste. Marie?
- By civil night times the clear share, May scores 1.8 hours at Sault Ste. Marie and June 1.7. May 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.