Can you see the northern lights in Yellowknife in April?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 30 of 30 nights at Yellowknife have civil darkness, and 12% of past April days reached Kp 5.

How dark is Yellowknife in April?

Yellowknife averages 7.1 hours of civil night a night in April 2027, from 8 h 47 min on the 1st to 5 h 19 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Yellowknife in April?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Yellowknife's 1 degree cell 58% mean cloud in April, against 63% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in April 2027 for aurora in Yellowknife?

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

Is April or May better in Yellowknife?

By civil night times the clear share, April scores 3.0 hours at Yellowknife and May 1.0. April comes out ahead.

Yellowknife · April 2027

Northern lights in Yellowknife in April 2027

Answer

April gives Yellowknife 7.2 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 8th darkest of its 12 months, under 58% mean cloud. 12% of April days since 1996 reached storm level, Kp 5.

7.1 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 62.45, -114.37; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

April against the rest of the year

7.0

6.5

5.4

3.0

1.0

0.0

2.1

3.2

2.4

3.8

7.0

April cloud at Yellowknife averages 58% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 5 points clearer than its yearly mean. March is Yellowknife's clearest month at 49%. By civil night times clear sky, April scores 3.0 hours at Yellowknife, 7th of 12. Fort McMurray, 659 km away, averages 68%, cloudier by 10 points.

Civil night at Yellowknife starts April at 8 h 47 min and reaches 5 h 19 min by April 30, 3.5 hours shorter. The 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on 15 of 30 nights. The sun never reaches 18 degrees down, so Yellowknife gets no astronomical night in April.

April night by night

April opens toward a new moon on Apr 6, with full moon on Apr 20, in America/Edmonton dates. Yellowknife gets 118 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: Apr 1 (4 h), Apr 2 (4 h), Apr 3 (4 h).

1
21% lit
8.8 h
2
14% lit
8.7 h
3
8% lit
8.6 h
4
3% lit
8.4 h
5
1% lit
8.3 h
6
0% lit
8.2 h
New
7
2% lit
6.9 h
8
6% lit
5.0 h
9
13% lit
2.9 h
10
21% lit
1.0 h
11
31% lit
0.1 h
12
42% lit
0.0 h
13
53% lit
0.0 h
14
65% lit
0.0 h
15
75% lit
0.0 h
16
84% lit
0.0 h
17
91% lit
0.0 h
18
97% lit
0.0 h
19
99% lit
0.0 h
20
100% lit
0.0 h
Full
21
98% lit
1.7 h
22
94% lit
3.5 h
23
89% lit
5.7 h
24
82% lit
6.1 h
25
74% lit
6.0 h
26
65% lit
5.8 h
27
56% lit
5.7 h
28
46% lit
5.6 h
29
37% lit
5.5 h
30
28% lit
5.3 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 Aprils

Quiet activity already puts the oval edge over Yellowknife, so storm days matter more: 106 of the 900 April days from 1996 to 2025 (12%) reached Kp 5, 4th of 12 months. Yellowknife sits at 68.5 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 0.

April across Canada

Yellowknife ranks 23rd in Canada for civil night on April 15, behind Sydney at 9.3 hours. Coming from March (10.6 hours at Yellowknife), April loses darkness, and May brings shorter nights (3.0 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on April 15 and April cloud, month-page towns in Canada
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Sydney	9.3 h	73%
Québec	9.2 h	67%
Greater Sudbury	9.2 h	64%
Trois-Rivières	9.2 h	66%
St. John's	9.2 h	77%
Saguenay	9.1 h	70%
Thunder Bay	9.1 h	69%
Lethbridge	9.0 h	68%
Winnipeg	8.9 h	61%
Regina	8.9 h	67%
Kelowna	8.9 h	71%
Kamloops	8.9 h	72%
Yellowknife	7.2 h	58%

Darkness and moon, every night

Yellowknife, April 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
Thu Apr 1	8 h 47 min	4 h 13 min	8 h 47 min	4 h	21%
Fri Apr 2	8 h 40 min	4 h 1 min	8 h 40 min	4 h	14%
Sat Apr 3	8 h 34 min	3 h 48 min	8 h 34 min	4 h	8%
Sun Apr 4	8 h 27 min	3 h 35 min	8 h 27 min	4 h	3%
Mon Apr 5	8 h 20 min	3 h 21 min	8 h 20 min	4 h	1%
Tue Apr 6	8 h 14 min	3 h 6 min	8 h 14 min	4 h	0%
Wed Apr 7	8 h 7 min	2 h 50 min	6 h 53 min	3 h 10 min	2%
Thu Apr 8	8 h	2 h 33 min	4 h 57 min	1 h 19 min	6%
Fri Apr 9	7 h 53 min	2 h 13 min	2 h 56 min	0 min	13%
Sat Apr 10	7 h 46 min	1 h 50 min	1 h 2 min	0 min	21%
Sun Apr 11	7 h 39 min	1 h 20 min	7 min	0 min	31%
Mon Apr 12	7 h 32 min	30 min	0 min	0 min	42%
Tue Apr 13	7 h 25 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	53%
Wed Apr 14	7 h 18 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	65%
Thu Apr 15	7 h 11 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	75%
Fri Apr 16	7 h 4 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	84%
Sat Apr 17	6 h 57 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	91%
Sun Apr 18	6 h 50 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	97%
Mon Apr 19	6 h 43 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Tue Apr 20	6 h 35 min	0 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Wed Apr 21	6 h 28 min	0 min	1 h 41 min	1 h 41 min	98%
Thu Apr 22	6 h 20 min	0 min	3 h 32 min	3 h 32 min	94%
Fri Apr 23	6 h 13 min	0 min	5 h 39 min	3 h 31 min	89%
Sat Apr 24	6 h 5 min	0 min	6 h 5 min	3 h 28 min	82%
Sun Apr 25	5 h 58 min	0 min	5 h 58 min	3 h 24 min	74%
Mon Apr 26	5 h 50 min	0 min	5 h 50 min	3 h 20 min	65%
Tue Apr 27	5 h 42 min	0 min	5 h 42 min	3 h 17 min	56%
Wed Apr 28	5 h 34 min	0 min	5 h 34 min	3 h 13 min	46%
Thu Apr 29	5 h 27 min	0 min	5 h 27 min	3 h 9 min	37%
Fri Apr 30	5 h 19 min	0 min	5 h 19 min	3 h 5 min	28%

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

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Yellowknife in April?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 30 of 30 nights at Yellowknife have civil darkness, and 12% of past April days reached Kp 5.
How dark is Yellowknife in April?: Yellowknife averages 7.1 hours of civil night a night in April 2027, from 8 h 47 min on the 1st to 5 h 19 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Yellowknife in April?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Yellowknife's 1 degree cell 58% mean cloud in April, against 63% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in April 2027 for aurora in Yellowknife?: By darkness and moon alone, Apr 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Yellowknife. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is April or May better in Yellowknife?: By civil night times the clear share, April scores 3.0 hours at Yellowknife and May 1.0. April 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.