Yukon, Canada
Northern lights in Whitehorse
Answer
Tonight
Darkness window open
Civil darkness has begun.
Observed 11:55 UTC, forecast 13:26 UTC, 91 min lead
Clock times in America/Whitehorse
Storm level needed
Whitehorse sits at 60.72N 135.05W in Yukon, Canada. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts Whitehorse at 63.8 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 3.1 degrees closer to the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. Whitehorse sits at 63.8 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 2.
"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 Juneau (271 km), Eagle River (783 km), Fairbanks (788 km). Juneau sits 2.2 degrees lower on the dipole, Kp 3 against 2 here.
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
From June 7 to July 3 the sun never reaches -6 degrees, so 27 nights in 2026 have no civil darkness at all. SWPC puts it plainly: "It must also be dark so during the summer months at auroral latitudes, the midnight sun prevents auroral observations." Glow's dark season, at least 4 hours of civil night between 18:00 and 06:00, runs from July 26 to May 15 across New Year, 294 days in 2026. Whitehorse's longest night of the year, Dec 19, has 16 h 12 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at Whitehorse, when the sun is lowest, falls at 01:56 on local clocks on December 15 and 02:01 on June 15. That is 1 h 56 min after midnight in December and 2 h 1 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at Whitehorse the darkest hour sits late in SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window.
Month by month
| Month | Night | Civil | Cloud | Clear dark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 15.4 h | 11.9 h | 67% | 5.1 h | |
| Feb | 13.2 h | 9.9 h | 61% | 5.1 h | |
| Mar | 10.6 h | 7.1 h | 60% | 4.2 h | |
| Apr | 7.5 h | 1.6 h | 67% | 2.5 h | |
| May | 4.0 h | 0.0 h | 71% | 1.2 h | |
| Jun | 0.0 h | 0.0 h | 77% | 0.0 h | |
| Jul | 2.6 h | 0.0 h | 74% | 0.7 h | |
| Aug | 6.4 h | 0.0 h | 73% | 1.7 h | |
| Sep | 9.6 h | 5.8 h | 74% | 2.5 h | |
| Oct | 12.3 h | 9.1 h | 77% | 2.9 h | |
| Nov | 14.8 h | 11.4 h | 74% | 3.8 h | |
| Dec | 16.2 h | 12.5 h | 68% | 5.2 hbest |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at Whitehorse with 16.2 hours of civil night and June the lightest at 0.0. Across the year Whitehorse gets 3,415 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at Whitehorse, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 12.5 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around Whitehorse at 70% across the year, from 60% in March to 77% in June. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night Whitehorse averages 69%, against a median of 67% for Glow towns in Canada.
Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky gives December the best score, 5.2 hours, ahead of February at 5.1. Whitehorse's equinox months score 4.2 in March and 2.5 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 2 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge over Whitehorse, on 77% of days. At Whitehorse's level the share runs from 70% in December to 85% 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 2. 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/Whitehorse dates. 15 of the 30 nights at Whitehorse have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 5 has the most at 4 h. Tonight Whitehorse has 11 h 6 min of civil night, 0 min of it with the moon down.
- 1
64% lit
0.0 h
- 2
53% lit
1.0 h
- 3
42% lit
2.8 h
- 4
31% lit
4.7 h
- 5
21% lit
6.5 h
- 6
13% lit
8.3 h
- 7
6% lit
9.9 h
- 8
2% lit
11.5 h
- 9
0% lit
11.8 h
- 10
1% lit
11.9 h
- 11
3% lit
12.0 h
- 12
7% lit
12.1 h
- 13
13% lit
12.2 h
- 14
20% lit
12.3 h
- 15
28% lit
12.3 h
- 16
37% lit
11.8 h
- 17
46% lit
10.3 h
- 18
56% lit
8.7 h
- 19
65% lit
7.2 h
- 20
74% lit
5.7 h
- 21
83% lit
4.2 h
- 22
90% lit
2.7 h
- 23
95% lit
1.1 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
0.0 h
- 29
78% lit
0.1 h
- 30
68% lit
1.8 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.
Within Canada
Among the 130 Glow towns in Canada, Whitehorse ranks 2nd by dipole latitude against a national median of 55.3 degrees; Yellowknife sits highest at 68.5. On December 15 Whitehorse gets 16.2 hours of civil night, 2nd longest of 130 in Canada, where the median is 14.2.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Whitehorse?
- Whitehorse sits at 63.8 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 2. Clear, dark sky over Whitehorse still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in Whitehorse?
- Civil night, the sun at -6 degrees or lower, is missing from Jun 7 to Jul 3. Tonight has 11 h 6 min of it.
- What is the best month for aurora in Whitehorse?
- December, by civil night at Whitehorse times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is Whitehorse in the dark months?
- About 69% mean cloud amount over Whitehorse 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 Whitehorse?
- A 3-hour Kp of 2 or more, the level that puts the average oval edge overhead, occurred on 77% of days from 1996 to 2025 in the GFZ Potsdam record.
Nearby and related
Nearest Glow towns
Whitehorse by month
Region and comparisons