Can you see the northern lights in Yellowknife in December?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Yellowknife have civil darkness, and 5% of past December days reached Kp 5.

How dark is Yellowknife in December?

Yellowknife averages 16.5 hours of civil night a night in December 2026, from 16 h 6 min on the 1st to 16 h 27 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Yellowknife in December?

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

What is the best night in December 2026 for aurora in Yellowknife?

By darkness and moon alone, Dec 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 December or January better in Yellowknife?

By civil night times the clear share, December scores 7.0 hours at Yellowknife and January 7.0. December comes out ahead.

Yellowknife · December 2026

Northern lights in Yellowknife in December 2026

Answer

December gives Yellowknife 16.6 hours of civil night on the 15th, the darkest month of its year, under 58% mean cloud. 5% of December days since 1996 reached storm level, Kp 5.

16.5 h

civil night, average night

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

December 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

December 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%. That makes December the best month of Yellowknife's year by civil night times clear sky, 7.0 hours. Fort McMurray, 659 km away, averages 69%, cloudier by 11 points.

Civil night at Yellowknife starts December at 16 h 6 min and reaches 16 h 27 min by December 31 as the nights lengthen by 0.3 hours. SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on every night. True astronomical darkness, the sun 18 degrees down, lasts 12.6 hours on the 15th.

December night by night

December opens toward a new moon on Dec 8, with full moon on Dec 23, in America/Edmonton dates. Yellowknife gets 277 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: Dec 1 (4 h), Dec 2 (4 h), Dec 3 (4 h).

1
40% lit
9.1 h
2
30% lit
10.7 h
3
21% lit
12.3 h
4
13% lit
13.9 h
5
7% lit
15.7 h
6
3% lit
16.3 h
7
1% lit
16.4 h
8
0% lit
16.4 h
New
9
1% lit
16.4 h
10
4% lit
16.4 h
11
9% lit
16.0 h
12
15% lit
14.3 h
13
22% lit
12.7 h
14
31% lit
11.2 h
15
40% lit
9.7 h
16
50% lit
8.2 h
17
61% lit
6.6 h
18
71% lit
4.9 h
19
80% lit
3.1 h
20
88% lit
1.1 h
21
95% lit
0.0 h
22
99% lit
0.0 h
23
100% lit
0.0 h
Full
24
98% lit
0.0 h
25
93% lit
1.2 h
26
86% lit
3.2 h
27
77% lit
5.0 h
28
66% lit
6.7 h
29
56% lit
8.3 h
30
45% lit
9.9 h
31
35% lit
11.5 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 Decembers

Quiet activity already puts the oval edge over Yellowknife, so storm days matter more: 44 of the 930 December days from 1996 to 2025 (5%) reached Kp 5, one of the three quietest months for that level. 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.

December across Canada

No month-page town in Canada has more civil night on December 15 than Yellowknife; the national median is 14.6 hours. Coming from November (15.1 hours at Yellowknife), December adds darkness, and January brings shorter nights (15.8 hours on the 15th). The December solstice falls on December 21, 14:49 Yellowknife time.

Civil night on December 15 and December cloud, month-page towns in Canada
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Yellowknife	16.6 h	58%
Whitehorse	16.2 h	68%
Fort McMurray	15.4 h	69%
Fort St. John	15.4 h	69%
Grande Prairie	15.2 h	71%
Edmonton	15.0 h	72%
Prince Albert	14.9 h	70%
Lloydminster	14.9 h	71%
Saskatoon	14.8 h	70%
Red Deer	14.8 h	74%
Calgary	14.6 h	68%
Regina	14.6 h	72%

Darkness and moon, every night

Yellowknife, December 2026: each night from local noon to the next noon
Night	Civil	Astronomical	Moon-free dark	Moon-free, 10 PM to 2 AM	Moon lit
Tue Dec 1	16 h 6 min	12 h 16 min	9 h 3 min	4 h	40%
Wed Dec 2	16 h 8 min	12 h 18 min	10 h 39 min	4 h	30%
Thu Dec 3	16 h 11 min	12 h 20 min	12 h 16 min	4 h	21%
Fri Dec 4	16 h 14 min	12 h 22 min	13 h 55 min	4 h	13%
Sat Dec 5	16 h 16 min	12 h 24 min	15 h 39 min	4 h	7%
Sun Dec 6	16 h 19 min	12 h 26 min	16 h 19 min	4 h	3%
Mon Dec 7	16 h 21 min	12 h 28 min	16 h 21 min	4 h	1%
Tue Dec 8	16 h 23 min	12 h 29 min	16 h 23 min	4 h	0%
Wed Dec 9	16 h 25 min	12 h 31 min	16 h 25 min	4 h	1%
Thu Dec 10	16 h 27 min	12 h 32 min	16 h 27 min	4 h	4%
Fri Dec 11	16 h 28 min	12 h 33 min	16 h	4 h	9%
Sat Dec 12	16 h 30 min	12 h 34 min	14 h 17 min	4 h	15%
Sun Dec 13	16 h 31 min	12 h 35 min	12 h 41 min	4 h	22%
Mon Dec 14	16 h 32 min	12 h 36 min	11 h 9 min	3 h 20 min	31%
Tue Dec 15	16 h 33 min	12 h 37 min	9 h 40 min	1 h 50 min	40%
Wed Dec 16	16 h 34 min	12 h 38 min	8 h 10 min	19 min	50%
Thu Dec 17	16 h 35 min	12 h 38 min	6 h 36 min	0 min	61%
Fri Dec 18	16 h 35 min	12 h 38 min	4 h 56 min	0 min	71%
Sat Dec 19	16 h 35 min	12 h 39 min	3 h 6 min	0 min	80%
Sun Dec 20	16 h 36 min	12 h 39 min	1 h 4 min	0 min	88%
Mon Dec 21	16 h 36 min	12 h 39 min	0 min	0 min	95%
Tue Dec 22	16 h 35 min	12 h 39 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Wed Dec 23	16 h 35 min	12 h 38 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Thu Dec 24	16 h 35 min	12 h 38 min	0 min	0 min	98%
Fri Dec 25	16 h 34 min	12 h 38 min	1 h 11 min	0 min	93%
Sat Dec 26	16 h 33 min	12 h 37 min	3 h 12 min	0 min	86%
Sun Dec 27	16 h 32 min	12 h 36 min	5 h 2 min	24 min	77%
Mon Dec 28	16 h 31 min	12 h 35 min	6 h 43 min	2 h 7 min	66%
Tue Dec 29	16 h 30 min	12 h 34 min	8 h 20 min	3 h 45 min	56%
Wed Dec 30	16 h 28 min	12 h 33 min	9 h 56 min	4 h	45%
Thu Dec 31	16 h 27 min	12 h 32 min	11 h 32 min	4 h	35%

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 December?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Yellowknife have civil darkness, and 5% of past December days reached Kp 5.
How dark is Yellowknife in December?: Yellowknife averages 16.5 hours of civil night a night in December 2026, from 16 h 6 min on the 1st to 16 h 27 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Yellowknife in December?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Yellowknife's 1 degree cell 58% mean cloud in December, against 63% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in December 2026 for aurora in Yellowknife?: By darkness and moon alone, Dec 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 December or January better in Yellowknife?: By civil night times the clear share, December scores 7.0 hours at Yellowknife and January 7.0. December 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.