Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Northern lights in St. John's
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/St_Johns
Storm level needed
St. John's sits at 47.56N 52.71W in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts St. John's at 56.1 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 8.5 degrees closer to the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. St. John's sits at 56.1 degrees geomagnetic. By SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 5, and aurora is usually visible on the northern horizon at G1 (Kp 5) or less.
"aurora is commonly visible at high latitudes (northern Michigan and Maine)"
The nearest other Glow towns are Conception Bay South (23 km), Saint-Pierre (276 km), Corner Brook (417 km). Conception Bay South sits 0.0 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. John's has some civil darkness; the shortest month sample still has 6.6 hours. Every evening of the year at St. John's clears Glow's dark-season bar of 4 hours of civil night between 18:00 and 06:00. St. John's's longest night of the year, Dec 17, has 14 h 16 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at St. John's, when the sun is lowest, falls at 23:56 on local clocks on December 15 and 01:01 on June 15. That is 4 min before midnight in December and 1 h 1 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at St. John's 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 | 13.8 h | 11.3 h | 83% | 2.4 h | |
| Feb | 12.5 h | 10.1 h | 81% | 2.4 h | |
| Mar | 11.0 h | 8.6 h | 80% | 2.2 h | |
| Apr | 9.2 h | 6.4 h | 77% | 2.1 h | |
| May | 7.5 h | 3.9 h | 77% | 1.7 h | |
| Jun | 6.5 h | 1.4 h | 77% | 1.5 h | |
| Jul | 7.0 h | 2.8 h | 73% | 1.9 h | |
| Aug | 8.5 h | 5.5 h | 72% | 2.4 h | |
| Sep | 10.3 h | 7.8 h | 69% | 3.2 hbest | |
| Oct | 12.0 h | 9.6 h | 74% | 3.1 h | |
| Nov | 13.5 h | 11.0 h | 77% | 3.1 h | |
| Dec | 14.3 h | 11.7 h | 82% | 2.6 h |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at St. John's with 14.3 hours of civil night and June the lightest at 6.6. Across the year St. John's gets 3,835 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at St. John's, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 11.7 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around St. John's at 77% across the year, from 69% in September to 83% in January. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night St. John's averages 77%, 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, 3.2 hours, ahead of October at 3.1. St. John's's equinox months score 2.2 in March and 3.2 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 5 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge over St. John's, on 10% of days. At St. John's's level the share runs from 5% in December to 14% in September, 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 5. 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/St_Johns dates. 15 of the 30 nights at St. John's 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. John's has 11 h 14 min of civil night, 1 h 53 min of it with the moon down.
- 1
67% lit
1.9 h
- 2
55% lit
3.0 h
- 3
44% lit
4.3 h
- 4
33% lit
5.7 h
- 5
23% lit
7.0 h
- 6
14% lit
8.4 h
- 7
7% lit
9.7 h
- 8
3% lit
11.0 h
- 9
0% lit
11.7 h
- 10
0% lit
11.7 h
- 11
2% lit
11.8 h
- 12
6% lit
11.8 h
- 13
12% lit
11.7 h
- 14
19% lit
11.1 h
- 15
27% lit
10.3 h
- 16
35% lit
9.4 h
- 17
45% lit
8.4 h
- 18
54% lit
7.3 h
- 19
64% lit
6.2 h
- 20
73% lit
5.0 h
- 21
81% lit
3.9 h
- 22
89% lit
2.7 h
- 23
95% lit
1.4 h
- 24
98% lit
0.1 h
- 25
100% lit
0.0 h
- 26
99% lit
0.0 h
- 27
95% lit
0.0 h
- 28
88% lit
0.6 h
- 29
80% lit
1.6 h
- 30
70% lit
2.9 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 3 Glow towns in Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's ranks 2nd by dipole latitude against a regional median of 56.1 degrees; Corner Brook sits highest at 57.8. Among the 130 Glow towns in Canada, St. John's ranks 50th by dipole latitude against a national median of 55.3 degrees; Yellowknife sits highest at 68.5. On December 15 St. John's gets 14.3 hours of civil night, 54th longest of 130 in Canada, where the median is 14.2.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in St. John's?
- St. John's sits at 56.1 degrees geomagnetic. By SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 5, and aurora is usually visible on the northern horizon at G1 (Kp 5) or less. Clear, dark sky over St. John's still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in St. John's?
- Every night at St. John's has civil darkness. Tonight has 11 h 14 min, and December 15 has 14.3 hours.
- What is the best month for aurora in St. John's?
- September, by civil night at St. John's times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is St. John's in the dark months?
- About 77% mean cloud amount over St. John's 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. John's?
- A 3-hour Kp of 5 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge overhead, occurred on 10% of days from 1996 to 2025 in the GFZ Potsdam record.
Nearby and related
Nearest Glow towns
St. John's by month
Region and comparisons