Can you see the northern lights in Tri-Cities in January?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Tri-Cities have civil darkness, and 1% of past January days reached Kp 7.

How dark is Tri-Cities in January?

Tri-Cities averages 13.7 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 14 h 3 min on the 1st to 13 h 10 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Tri-Cities in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Tri-Cities's 1 degree cell 79% mean cloud in January, against 56% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Tri-Cities?

By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Tri-Cities. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.

Is January or February better in Tri-Cities?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 2.9 hours at Tri-Cities and February 4.0. February comes out ahead.

Tri-Cities · January 2027

Northern lights in Tri-Cities in January 2027

Answer

January gives Tri-Cities 13.7 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 79% mean cloud. 1% of January days since 1996 reached Kp 7, enough for the oval edge to reach Tri-Cities.

13.7 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 46.25, -119.20; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

2.9

4.0

3.4

3.6

3.4

3.7

5.4

6.2

6.3

5.3

4.0

3.2

January cloud at Tri-Cities averages 79% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 23 points cloudier than its yearly mean. July is Tri-Cities's clearest month at 26%. By civil night times clear sky, January scores 2.9 hours at Tri-Cities, 12th of 12. Seattle, 282 km away, averages 80%, cloudier by 1 points.

Civil night at Tri-Cities starts January at 14 h 3 min and reaches 13 h 10 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/Los_Angeles dates. Tri-Cities 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
26% lit
10.3 h
2
18% lit
11.5 h
3
11% lit
12.5 h
4
6% lit
13.5 h
5
2% lit
14.0 h
6
0% lit
14.0 h
7
0% lit
13.9 h
New
8
2% lit
13.7 h
9
5% lit
12.6 h
10
11% lit
11.4 h
11
17% lit
10.3 h
12
25% lit
9.2 h
13
35% lit
8.1 h
14
45% lit
6.9 h
15
55% lit
5.6 h
16
66% lit
4.3 h
17
76% lit
3.0 h
18
85% lit
1.7 h
19
93% lit
0.6 h
20
98% lit
0.0 h
21
100% lit
0.0 h
22
99% lit
0.0 h
Full
23
95% lit
1.4 h
24
89% lit
2.7 h
25
81% lit
4.0 h
26
71% lit
5.3 h
27
61% lit
6.5 h
28
51% lit
7.6 h
29
41% lit
8.8 h
30
32% lit
9.8 h
31
24% 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

Tri-Cities needs Kp 7 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 7 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (1%) 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%. Tri-Cities sits at 52.1 degrees geomagnetic. The lowest NOAA storm level whose typical viewing latitude reaches it is G3 (Kp = 7). By SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead only at Kp 7.

January across United States

Tri-Cities ranks 8th in United States for civil night on January 15, behind Fairbanks at 16.3 hours. Coming from December (14.1 hours at Tri-Cities), 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 United States
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Fairbanks	16.3 h	55%
Anchorage	15.5 h	65%
Eagle River	15.5 h	65%
Juneau	15.1 h	80%
Seattle	13.9 h	80%
Duluth	13.8 h	63%
Fargo	13.8 h	62%
Tri-Cities	13.7 h	79%
Minneapolis	13.6 h	62%
Buffalo	13.5 h	85%
Portland, Maine	13.5 h	65%

Darkness and moon, every night

Tri-Cities, January 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
Fri Jan 1	14 h 3 min	11 h 35 min	10 h 21 min	4 h	26%
Sat Jan 2	14 h 2 min	11 h 34 min	11 h 28 min	4 h	18%
Sun Jan 3	14 h 1 min	11 h 33 min	12 h 32 min	4 h	11%
Mon Jan 4	14 h	11 h 32 min	13 h 29 min	4 h	6%
Tue Jan 5	13 h 59 min	11 h 31 min	13 h 59 min	4 h	2%
Wed Jan 6	13 h 58 min	11 h 30 min	13 h 58 min	4 h	0%
Thu Jan 7	13 h 57 min	11 h 29 min	13 h 57 min	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	13 h 55 min	11 h 28 min	13 h 41 min	4 h	2%
Sat Jan 9	13 h 54 min	11 h 27 min	12 h 33 min	4 h	5%
Sun Jan 10	13 h 52 min	11 h 25 min	11 h 26 min	4 h	11%
Mon Jan 11	13 h 51 min	11 h 24 min	10 h 19 min	4 h	17%
Tue Jan 12	13 h 49 min	11 h 23 min	9 h 12 min	4 h	25%
Wed Jan 13	13 h 48 min	11 h 21 min	8 h 4 min	3 h 4 min	35%
Thu Jan 14	13 h 46 min	11 h 20 min	6 h 53 min	1 h 54 min	45%
Fri Jan 15	13 h 44 min	11 h 18 min	5 h 38 min	39 min	55%
Sat Jan 16	13 h 42 min	11 h 17 min	4 h 19 min	0 min	66%
Sun Jan 17	13 h 41 min	11 h 15 min	2 h 59 min	0 min	76%
Mon Jan 18	13 h 39 min	11 h 14 min	1 h 43 min	0 min	85%
Tue Jan 19	13 h 37 min	11 h 12 min	38 min	0 min	93%
Wed Jan 20	13 h 35 min	11 h 10 min	0 min	0 min	98%
Thu Jan 21	13 h 33 min	11 h 8 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Fri Jan 22	13 h 31 min	11 h 6 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Sat Jan 23	13 h 28 min	11 h 4 min	1 h 24 min	0 min	95%
Sun Jan 24	13 h 26 min	11 h 2 min	2 h 44 min	0 min	89%
Mon Jan 25	13 h 24 min	11 h	4 h 1 min	0 min	81%
Tue Jan 26	13 h 22 min	10 h 58 min	5 h 15 min	43 min	71%
Wed Jan 27	13 h 19 min	10 h 56 min	6 h 27 min	1 h 56 min	61%
Thu Jan 28	13 h 17 min	10 h 54 min	7 h 37 min	3 h 8 min	51%
Fri Jan 29	13 h 15 min	10 h 52 min	8 h 46 min	4 h	41%
Sat Jan 30	13 h 12 min	10 h 50 min	9 h 51 min	4 h	32%
Sun Jan 31	13 h 10 min	10 h 47 min	10 h 50 min	4 h	24%

Moon lit: SunCalc illuminated fraction at the middle of the 10 PM to 2 AM window.

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Tri-Cities in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Tri-Cities have civil darkness, and 1% of past January days reached Kp 7.
How dark is Tri-Cities in January?: Tri-Cities averages 13.7 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 14 h 3 min on the 1st to 13 h 10 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Tri-Cities in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Tri-Cities's 1 degree cell 79% mean cloud in January, against 56% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Tri-Cities?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Tri-Cities. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Tri-Cities?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 2.9 hours at Tri-Cities and February 4.0. February 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.