Can you see the northern lights in Yellowknife in November?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 30 of 30 nights at Yellowknife have civil darkness, and 10% of past November days reached Kp 5.

How dark is Yellowknife in November?

Yellowknife averages 15.1 hours of civil night a night in November 2026, from 13 h 57 min on the 1st to 16 h 3 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Yellowknife in November?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Yellowknife's 1 degree cell 75% mean cloud in November, against 63% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

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

By darkness and moon alone, Nov 3, 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 November or December better in Yellowknife?

By civil night times the clear share, November scores 3.8 hours at Yellowknife and December 7.0. December comes out ahead.

Yellowknife · November 2026

Northern lights in Yellowknife in November 2026

Answer

November gives Yellowknife 15.1 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 3rd darkest of its 12 months, under 75% mean cloud. 10% of November days since 1996 reached storm level, Kp 5.

15.1 h

civil night, average night

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

November 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

November cloud at Yellowknife averages 75% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 12 points cloudier than its yearly mean. March is Yellowknife's clearest month at 49%. By civil night times clear sky, November scores 3.8 hours at Yellowknife, 5th of 12. Fort McMurray, 659 km away, averages 77%, cloudier by 2 points.

Civil night at Yellowknife starts November at 13 h 57 min and reaches 16 h 3 min by November 30 as the nights lengthen by 2.1 hours. SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on every night. True astronomical darkness, the sun 18 degrees down, lasts 11.4 hours on the 15th.

November night by night

November opens toward a new moon on Nov 9, with full moon on Nov 24, in America/Edmonton dates. Yellowknife gets 236 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: Nov 3 (4 h), Nov 4 (4 h), Nov 5 (4 h).

1
46% lit
5.3 h
2
35% lit
7.1 h
3
25% lit
8.8 h
4
16% lit
10.4 h
5
9% lit
12.1 h
6
4% lit
13.7 h
7
1% lit
14.5 h
8
0% lit
14.6 h
9
1% lit
14.6 h
New
10
4% lit
14.7 h
11
8% lit
14.8 h
12
14% lit
14.9 h
13
21% lit
14.6 h
14
29% lit
12.8 h
15
38% lit
11.1 h
16
48% lit
9.5 h
17
58% lit
8.0 h
18
67% lit
6.5 h
19
77% lit
5.0 h
20
85% lit
3.3 h
21
92% lit
1.5 h
22
97% lit
0.0 h
23
100% lit
0.0 h
24
99% lit
0.0 h
Full
25
96% lit
0.0 h
26
90% lit
0.0 h
27
82% lit
1.7 h
28
72% lit
3.8 h
29
61% lit
5.7 h
30
50% lit
7.4 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 Novembers

Quiet activity already puts the oval edge over Yellowknife, so storm days matter more: 93 of the 900 November days from 1996 to 2025 (10%) reached Kp 5, 7th 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.

November across Canada

No month-page town in Canada has more civil night on November 15 than Yellowknife; the national median is 13.8 hours. Coming from October (12.4 hours at Yellowknife), November adds darkness, and the nights keep growing into December (16.6 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on November 15 and November cloud, month-page towns in Canada
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Yellowknife	15.1 h	75%
Whitehorse	14.8 h	74%
Fort McMurray	14.3 h	77%
Fort St. John	14.3 h	73%
Grande Prairie	14.2 h	75%
Edmonton	14.0 h	76%
Prince Albert	14.0 h	77%
Lloydminster	14.0 h	74%
Saskatoon	13.9 h	73%
Red Deer	13.9 h	76%
Calgary	13.8 h	71%
Kamloops	13.8 h	76%

Darkness and moon, every night

Yellowknife, November 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
Sun Nov 1	13 h 57 min	10 h 26 min	5 h 16 min	1 h 39 min	46%
Mon Nov 2	14 h 3 min	10 h 31 min	7 h 6 min	3 h 26 min	35%
Tue Nov 3	14 h 8 min	10 h 36 min	8 h 48 min	4 h	25%
Wed Nov 4	14 h 13 min	10 h 40 min	10 h 27 min	4 h	16%
Thu Nov 5	14 h 18 min	10 h 45 min	12 h 5 min	4 h	9%
Fri Nov 6	14 h 23 min	10 h 49 min	13 h 44 min	4 h	4%
Sat Nov 7	14 h 28 min	10 h 54 min	14 h 28 min	4 h	1%
Sun Nov 8	14 h 33 min	10 h 58 min	14 h 33 min	4 h	0%
Mon Nov 9	14 h 37 min	11 h 2 min	14 h 37 min	4 h	1%
Tue Nov 10	14 h 42 min	11 h 7 min	14 h 42 min	4 h	4%
Wed Nov 11	14 h 47 min	11 h 11 min	14 h 47 min	4 h	8%
Thu Nov 12	14 h 52 min	11 h 15 min	14 h 52 min	4 h	14%
Fri Nov 13	14 h 56 min	11 h 19 min	14 h 36 min	4 h	21%
Sat Nov 14	15 h 1 min	11 h 23 min	12 h 46 min	4 h	29%
Sun Nov 15	15 h 5 min	11 h 27 min	11 h 6 min	4 h	38%
Mon Nov 16	15 h 10 min	11 h 30 min	9 h 31 min	2 h 33 min	48%
Tue Nov 17	15 h 14 min	11 h 34 min	8 h	1 h	58%
Wed Nov 18	15 h 18 min	11 h 38 min	6 h 30 min	0 min	67%
Thu Nov 19	15 h 23 min	11 h 41 min	4 h 57 min	0 min	77%
Fri Nov 20	15 h 27 min	11 h 45 min	3 h 19 min	0 min	85%
Sat Nov 21	15 h 31 min	11 h 48 min	1 h 32 min	0 min	92%
Sun Nov 22	15 h 35 min	11 h 51 min	0 min	0 min	97%
Mon Nov 23	15 h 39 min	11 h 54 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Tue Nov 24	15 h 42 min	11 h 57 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Wed Nov 25	15 h 46 min	12 h	0 min	0 min	96%
Thu Nov 26	15 h 49 min	12 h 3 min	0 min	0 min	90%
Fri Nov 27	15 h 53 min	12 h 6 min	1 h 42 min	0 min	82%
Sat Nov 28	15 h 56 min	12 h 8 min	3 h 47 min	0 min	72%
Sun Nov 29	15 h 59 min	12 h 11 min	5 h 40 min	1 h 7 min	61%
Mon Nov 30	16 h 3 min	12 h 13 min	7 h 25 min	2 h 51 min	50%

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 November?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 30 of 30 nights at Yellowknife have civil darkness, and 10% of past November days reached Kp 5.
How dark is Yellowknife in November?: Yellowknife averages 15.1 hours of civil night a night in November 2026, from 13 h 57 min on the 1st to 16 h 3 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Yellowknife in November?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Yellowknife's 1 degree cell 75% mean cloud in November, against 63% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in November 2026 for aurora in Yellowknife?: By darkness and moon alone, Nov 3, 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 November or December better in Yellowknife?: By civil night times the clear share, November scores 3.8 hours at Yellowknife and December 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.