Alberta, Canada
Northern lights in St. Albert
Answer
Tonight
Darkness window open
Civil darkness has begun.
Observed 11:55 UTC, forecast 13:26 UTC, 91 min lead
Clock times in America/Edmonton
Storm level needed
St. Albert sits at 53.63N 113.64W in Alberta, Canada. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts St. Albert at 60.1 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 6.4 degrees closer to the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. St. Albert sits at 60.1 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 3.
"The best place to observe the aurora is under an oval shaped region between the north and south latitudes of about 60 and 75 degrees. At these polar latitudes, the aurora can be observed more than half of the nights of a given year."
The nearest other Glow towns are Edmonton (14 km), Spruce Grove (22 km), Sherwood Park (25 km). Edmonton sits 0.1 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 St. Albert has some civil darkness; the shortest month sample still has 5.0 hours. Every evening of the year at St. Albert clears Glow's dark-season bar of 4 hours of civil night between 18:00 and 06:00. St. Albert's longest night of the year, Dec 20, has 15 h of civil night.
Solar midnight at St. Albert, when the sun is lowest, falls at 01:30 on local clocks on December 15 and 01:35 on June 15. That is 1 h 30 min after midnight in December and 1 h 35 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at St. Albert the darkest hour sits late in SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window.
Month by month
| Month | Night | Civil | Cloud | Clear dark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 14.4 h | 11.6 h | 71% | 4.2 hbest | |
| Feb | 12.8 h | 10.1 h | 69% | 4.0 h | |
| Mar | 10.8 h | 8.1 h | 72% | 3.1 h | |
| Apr | 8.6 h | 5.1 h | 69% | 2.7 h | |
| May | 6.4 h | 0.0 h | 63% | 2.4 h | |
| Jun | 5.0 h | 0.0 h | 65% | 1.8 h | |
| Jul | 5.7 h | 0.0 h | 56% | 2.5 h | |
| Aug | 7.8 h | 3.8 h | 58% | 3.3 h | |
| Sep | 10.1 h | 7.1 h | 60% | 4.0 h | |
| Oct | 12.2 h | 9.4 h | 68% | 3.9 h | |
| Nov | 14.0 h | 11.2 h | 76% | 3.4 h | |
| Dec | 15.0 h | 12.0 h | 72% | 4.2 h |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at St. Albert with 15.0 hours of civil night and June the lightest at 5.0. Across the year St. Albert gets 3,727 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at St. Albert, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 12.0 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around St. Albert at 67% across the year, from 56% in July to 76% in November. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night St. Albert averages 67%, against a median of 67% for Glow towns in Canada.
Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky gives January the best score, 4.2 hours, ahead of December at 4.2. St. Albert's equinox months score 3.1 in March and 4.0 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 3 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge over St. Albert, on 50% of days. At St. Albert's level the share runs from 43% in June to 58% in March, 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 3. 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 25, in America/Edmonton dates. 15 of the 30 nights at St. Albert have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 5 has the most at 4 h. Tonight St. Albert has 11 h 12 min of civil night, 1 h 19 min of it with the moon down.
- 1
65% lit
1.3 h
- 2
54% lit
2.5 h
- 3
42% lit
3.9 h
- 4
31% lit
5.4 h
- 5
21% lit
7.0 h
- 6
13% lit
8.4 h
- 7
7% lit
9.9 h
- 8
2% lit
11.3 h
- 9
0% lit
11.8 h
- 10
1% lit
11.8 h
- 11
3% lit
11.9 h
- 12
7% lit
11.9 h
- 13
13% lit
12.0 h
- 14
20% lit
11.7 h
- 15
28% lit
11.0 h
- 16
37% lit
10.1 h
- 17
46% lit
8.9 h
- 18
56% lit
7.7 h
- 19
65% lit
6.5 h
- 20
74% lit
5.2 h
- 21
82% lit
3.9 h
- 22
90% lit
2.6 h
- 23
95% lit
1.2 h
- 24
99% lit
0.0 h
- 25
100% lit
0.0 h
- 26
98% lit
0.0 h
- 27
94% lit
0.0 h
- 28
87% lit
0.2 h
- 29
78% lit
1.3 h
- 30
68% lit
2.6 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 18 Glow towns in Alberta, St. Albert ranks 4th by dipole latitude against a regional median of 59.1 degrees; Fort McMurray sits highest at 63.4. Among the 131 Glow towns in Canada, St. Albert ranks 8th by dipole latitude against a national median of 55.3 degrees; Yellowknife sits highest at 68.5. On December 15 St. Albert gets 15.0 hours of civil night, 7th longest of 131 in Canada, where the median is 14.2.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in St. Albert?
- St. Albert sits at 60.1 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 3. Clear, dark sky over St. Albert still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in St. Albert?
- Every night at St. Albert has civil darkness. Tonight has 11 h 12 min, and December 15 has 15.0 hours.
- What is the best month for aurora in St. Albert?
- January, by civil night at St. Albert times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is St. Albert in the dark months?
- About 67% mean cloud amount over St. Albert 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 St. Albert?
- A 3-hour Kp of 3 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge overhead, occurred on 50% of days from 1996 to 2025 in the GFZ Potsdam record.
- Why does this page point to Edmonton?
- St. Albert sits within 15 km of Edmonton with the same rounded dipole latitude, Kp and dark season, so Glow treats Edmonton as the main page for both.
Nearby and related
Nearest Glow towns
St. Albert by month
Region and comparisons