Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Southern lights in Ushuaia
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/Argentina/Ushuaia
Storm level needed
Ushuaia sits at 54.81S 68.32W in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts Ushuaia at 45.6 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 9.2 degrees farther from the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. Ushuaia sits at 45.6 degrees geomagnetic. The lowest NOAA storm level whose typical viewing latitude reaches it is G4 (Kp = 8, including a 9-). Even Kp 9 does not put the average oval edge overhead by SWPC's rule.
"aurora has been seen as low as Alabama and northern California (typically 45° geomagnetic lat.)"
The nearest other Glow towns are Dunedin (7,532 km), Invercargill (7,569 km), Gore (7,574 km). Dunedin sits 3.7 degrees higher on the dipole.
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 Ushuaia has some civil darkness; the shortest month sample still has 4.6 hours. Every evening of the year at Ushuaia clears Glow's dark-season bar of 4 hours of civil night between 18:00 and 06:00. Ushuaia's longest night of the year, Jun 16, has 15 h 9 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at Ushuaia, when the sun is lowest, falls at 01:28 on local clocks on December 15 and 01:34 on June 15. That is 1 h 28 min after midnight in December and 1 h 34 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at Ushuaia the darkest hour sits late in SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window.
Month by month
| Month | Night | Civil | Cloud | Clear dark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 5.5 h | 0.0 h | 84% | 0.9 h | |
| Feb | 7.9 h | 3.9 h | 81% | 1.5 h | |
| Mar | 10.2 h | 7.2 h | 80% | 2.0 h | |
| Apr | 12.4 h | 9.6 h | 78% | 2.7 h | |
| May | 14.2 h | 11.3 h | 73% | 3.8 h | |
| Jun | 15.1 h | 12.1 h | 73% | 4.1 h | |
| Jul | 14.7 h | 11.7 h | 72% | 4.1 hbest | |
| Aug | 13.1 h | 10.3 h | 76% | 3.1 h | |
| Sep | 11.0 h | 8.1 h | 77% | 2.5 h | |
| Oct | 8.7 h | 5.2 h | 81% | 1.7 h | |
| Nov | 6.2 h | 0.0 h | 84% | 1.0 h | |
| Dec | 4.6 h | 0.0 h | 84% | 0.7 h |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, June is the darkest month at Ushuaia with 15.1 hours of civil night and December the lightest at 4.6. Across the year Ushuaia gets 3,760 hours of civil night. The sun never gets 18 degrees below the horizon at Ushuaia on December 15, so there is no astronomical night that date.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around Ushuaia at 78% across the year, from 72% in July to 84% in January. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night Ushuaia averages 79%.
Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky gives July the best score, 4.1 hours, ahead of June at 4.1. Ushuaia's equinox months score 2.0 in March and 2.5 in September, the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.
Kp history
No whole Kp value puts the average oval edge over Ushuaia by SWPC's rule, so the GFZ record has no threshold to count. SWPC's G4 row gives the typical latitude where aurora has been seen.
Share of UTC days in each calendar month whose highest 3-hour Kp reached the level. 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/Argentina/Ushuaia dates. 15 of the 30 nights at Ushuaia have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 1 has the most at 4 h. Tonight Ushuaia has 9 h 48 min of civil night, 7 h 6 min of it with the moon down.
- 1
66% lit
7.1 h
- 2
55% lit
8.0 h
- 3
44% lit
8.6 h
- 4
33% lit
8.9 h
- 5
23% lit
9.1 h
- 6
14% lit
9.2 h
- 7
7% lit
9.3 h
- 8
3% lit
9.3 h
- 9
0% lit
9.2 h
- 10
0% lit
9.1 h
- 11
2% lit
7.8 h
- 12
6% lit
6.4 h
- 13
12% lit
5.1 h
- 14
19% lit
3.9 h
- 15
27% lit
2.9 h
- 16
36% lit
2.1 h
- 17
45% lit
1.6 h
- 18
54% lit
1.2 h
- 19
64% lit
0.9 h
- 20
73% lit
0.7 h
- 21
81% lit
0.6 h
- 22
89% lit
0.4 h
- 23
95% lit
0.2 h
- 24
98% lit
0.0 h
- 25
100% lit
0.0 h
- 26
99% lit
0.9 h
- 27
95% lit
2.5 h
- 28
88% lit
3.9 h
- 29
79% lit
4.9 h
- 30
69% lit
5.6 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 Argentina
On December 15 Ushuaia gets 4.6 hours of civil night, 1st longest of 1 in Argentina, where the median is 4.6.
Questions
- Can you see the southern lights in Ushuaia?
- Ushuaia sits at 45.6 degrees geomagnetic. The lowest NOAA storm level whose typical viewing latitude reaches it is G4 (Kp = 8, including a 9-). Even Kp 9 does not put the average oval edge overhead by SWPC's rule. Clear, dark sky over Ushuaia still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in Ushuaia?
- Every night at Ushuaia has civil darkness. Tonight has 9 h 48 min, and December 15 has 4.6 hours.
- What is the best month for aurora in Ushuaia?
- July, by civil night at Ushuaia times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is Ushuaia in the dark months?
- About 79% mean cloud amount over Ushuaia in the months with at least 4 hours of civil night, from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology.
Nearby and related
Nearest Glow towns
Ushuaia by month
Region and comparisons