Can you see the northern lights in Yellowknife in March?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Yellowknife have civil darkness, and 12% of past March days reached Kp 5.

How dark is Yellowknife in March?

Yellowknife averages 10.5 hours of civil night a night in March 2027, from 11 h 59 min on the 1st to 8 h 53 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Yellowknife in March?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Yellowknife's 1 degree cell 49% mean cloud in March, against 63% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

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

By darkness and moon alone, Mar 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 March or April better in Yellowknife?

By civil night times the clear share, March scores 5.4 hours at Yellowknife and April 3.0. March comes out ahead.

Yellowknife · March 2027

Northern lights in Yellowknife in March 2027

Answer

March gives Yellowknife 10.6 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 6th darkest of its 12 months, under 49% mean cloud. 12% of March days since 1996 reached storm level, Kp 5.

10.5 h

civil night, average night

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

March 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

March cloud at Yellowknife averages 49% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 14 points clearer than its yearly mean. No month at Yellowknife is clearer. By civil night times clear sky, March scores 5.4 hours at Yellowknife, 4th of 12. Fort McMurray, 659 km away, averages 67%, cloudier by 18 points.

Civil night at Yellowknife starts March at 11 h 59 min and reaches 8 h 53 min by March 31, 3.1 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 6.8 hours on the 15th.

March night by night

March opens toward a new moon on Mar 8, with full moon on Mar 22, in America/Edmonton dates. Yellowknife gets 188 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: Mar 1 (4 h), Mar 2 (4 h), Mar 3 (4 h).

1
31% lit
12.0 h
2
23% lit
11.9 h
3
15% lit
11.8 h
4
9% lit
11.7 h
5
4% lit
11.6 h
6
1% lit
11.5 h
7
0% lit
11.4 h
8
1% lit
11.1 h
New
9
4% lit
9.5 h
10
9% lit
7.8 h
11
16% lit
6.0 h
12
24% lit
4.1 h
13
34% lit
2.0 h
14
45% lit
0.3 h
15
57% lit
0.0 h
16
68% lit
0.0 h
17
78% lit
0.0 h
18
87% lit
0.0 h
19
94% lit
0.0 h
20
98% lit
0.0 h
21
100% lit
0.0 h
22
99% lit
0.5 h
Full
23
96% lit
2.2 h
24
91% lit
4.0 h
25
84% lit
5.8 h
26
76% lit
7.8 h
27
67% lit
9.3 h
28
58% lit
9.2 h
29
48% lit
9.1 h
30
39% lit
9.0 h
31
30% lit
8.9 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 Marchs

Quiet activity already puts the oval edge over Yellowknife, so storm days matter more: 111 of the 930 March days from 1996 to 2025 (12%) reached Kp 5, one of the three most active 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.

March across Canada

Yellowknife ranks 22nd in Canada for civil night on March 15, behind Québec at 11.0 hours. Coming from February (13.3 hours at Yellowknife), March loses darkness, and April brings shorter nights (7.2 hours on the 15th). The March equinox falls on March 20, 14:25 Yellowknife time, inside the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.

Civil night on March 15 and March cloud, month-page towns in Canada
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Québec	11.0 h	63%
Greater Sudbury	11.0 h	60%
Saguenay	11.0 h	66%
Trois-Rivières	11.0 h	62%
St. John's	11.0 h	80%
Thunder Bay	11.0 h	67%
Sydney	11.0 h	77%
Calgary	10.9 h	72%
Edmonton	10.9 h	72%
Winnipeg	10.9 h	61%
Saskatoon	10.9 h	68%
Regina	10.9 h	69%
Yellowknife	10.6 h	49%

Darkness and moon, every night

Yellowknife, March 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
Mon Mar 1	11 h 59 min	8 h 27 min	11 h 59 min	4 h	31%
Tue Mar 2	11 h 53 min	8 h 21 min	11 h 53 min	4 h	23%
Wed Mar 3	11 h 47 min	8 h 15 min	11 h 47 min	4 h	15%
Thu Mar 4	11 h 41 min	8 h 8 min	11 h 41 min	4 h	9%
Fri Mar 5	11 h 35 min	8 h 1 min	11 h 35 min	4 h	4%
Sat Mar 6	11 h 29 min	7 h 55 min	11 h 29 min	4 h	1%
Sun Mar 7	11 h 23 min	7 h 48 min	11 h 23 min	4 h	0%
Mon Mar 8	11 h 17 min	7 h 41 min	11 h 6 min	4 h	1%
Tue Mar 9	11 h 11 min	7 h 34 min	9 h 29 min	4 h	4%
Wed Mar 10	11 h 5 min	7 h 27 min	7 h 48 min	2 h 28 min	9%
Thu Mar 11	10 h 59 min	7 h 20 min	6 h	44 min	16%
Fri Mar 12	10 h 53 min	7 h 12 min	4 h 4 min	0 min	24%
Sat Mar 13	10 h 47 min	7 h 5 min	2 h 2 min	0 min	34%
Sun Mar 14	10 h 41 min	6 h 58 min	17 min	0 min	45%
Mon Mar 15	10 h 35 min	6 h 50 min	0 min	0 min	57%
Tue Mar 16	10 h 29 min	6 h 42 min	0 min	0 min	68%
Wed Mar 17	10 h 23 min	6 h 34 min	0 min	0 min	78%
Thu Mar 18	10 h 16 min	6 h 26 min	0 min	0 min	87%
Fri Mar 19	10 h 10 min	6 h 18 min	0 min	0 min	94%
Sat Mar 20	10 h 4 min	6 h 10 min	0 min	0 min	98%
Sun Mar 21	9 h 58 min	6 h 1 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Mon Mar 22	9 h 51 min	5 h 53 min	31 min	0 min	99%
Tue Mar 23	9 h 45 min	5 h 44 min	2 h 13 min	1 h 4 min	96%
Wed Mar 24	9 h 39 min	5 h 35 min	3 h 58 min	2 h 52 min	91%
Thu Mar 25	9 h 32 min	5 h 25 min	5 h 47 min	4 h	84%
Fri Mar 26	9 h 26 min	5 h 16 min	7 h 45 min	4 h	76%
Sat Mar 27	9 h 19 min	5 h 6 min	9 h 19 min	4 h	67%
Sun Mar 28	9 h 13 min	4 h 56 min	9 h 13 min	4 h	58%
Mon Mar 29	9 h 6 min	4 h 46 min	9 h 6 min	4 h	48%
Tue Mar 30	9 h	4 h 35 min	9 h	4 h	39%
Wed Mar 31	8 h 53 min	4 h 24 min	8 h 53 min	4 h	30%

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 March?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Yellowknife have civil darkness, and 12% of past March days reached Kp 5.
How dark is Yellowknife in March?: Yellowknife averages 10.5 hours of civil night a night in March 2027, from 11 h 59 min on the 1st to 8 h 53 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Yellowknife in March?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Yellowknife's 1 degree cell 49% mean cloud in March, against 63% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in March 2027 for aurora in Yellowknife?: By darkness and moon alone, Mar 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 March or April better in Yellowknife?: By civil night times the clear share, March scores 5.4 hours at Yellowknife and April 3.0. March 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.