Can you see the northern lights in Zapolyarnyy in January?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Zapolyarnyy have civil darkness, and 6% of past January days reached Kp 5.

How dark is Zapolyarnyy in January?

Zapolyarnyy averages 17.5 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 18 h 50 min on the 1st to 15 h 55 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Zapolyarnyy in January?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Zapolyarnyy's 1 degree cell 81% mean cloud in January, against 82% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Zapolyarnyy?

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

Is January or February better in Zapolyarnyy?

By civil night times the clear share, January scores 3.4 hours at Zapolyarnyy and February 2.8. January comes out ahead.

Zapolyarnyy · January 2027

Northern lights in Zapolyarnyy in January 2027

Answer

January gives Zapolyarnyy 17.7 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 2nd darkest of its 12 months, under 81% mean cloud. 6% of January days since 1996 reached storm level, Kp 5.

17.5 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 69.43, 30.81; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

January against the rest of the year

3.4

2.8

2.0

1.0

0.0

0.3

1.6

1.7

2.5

2.7

January cloud at Zapolyarnyy averages 81% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, close to its yearly mean of 82%. July is Zapolyarnyy's clearest month at 76%. That makes January the best month of Zapolyarnyy's year by civil night times clear sky, 3.4 hours. Nikel, 23 km away, averages the same 81%.

Civil night at Zapolyarnyy starts January at 18 h 50 min and reaches 15 h 55 min by January 31, 2.9 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 12.4 hours on the 15th.

January night by night

January opens toward a new moon on Jan 7, with full moon on Jan 22, in Europe/Moscow dates. Zapolyarnyy gets 319 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: Jan 1 (4 h), Jan 2 (4 h), Jan 3 (4 h).

1
30% lit
17.0 h
2
21% lit
18.8 h
3
14% lit
18.7 h
4
8% lit
18.6 h
5
4% lit
18.6 h
6
1% lit
18.5 h
7
0% lit
18.4 h
New
8
1% lit
18.4 h
9
4% lit
18.3 h
10
8% lit
16.1 h
11
14% lit
14.1 h
12
21% lit
12.2 h
13
30% lit
10.3 h
14
40% lit
8.3 h
15
50% lit
5.9 h
16
61% lit
1.1 h
17
72% lit
0.0 h
18
81% lit
0.0 h
19
90% lit
0.0 h
20
96% lit
0.0 h
21
99% lit
0.0 h
22
100% lit
0.0 h
Full
23
97% lit
0.5 h
24
92% lit
2.9 h
25
85% lit
5.0 h
26
76% lit
7.0 h
27
66% lit
9.4 h
28
56% lit
12.6 h
29
46% lit
16.2 h
30
36% lit
16.0 h
31
27% lit
15.9 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 Januarys

Quiet activity already puts the oval edge over Zapolyarnyy, so storm days matter more: 58 of the 930 January days from 1996 to 2025 (6%) reached Kp 5, one of the three quietest months for that level. Zapolyarnyy sits at 65.6 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 1.

January across Russia

No month-page town in Russia has more civil night on January 15 than Zapolyarnyy; the national median is 17.0 hours. Coming from December (19.1 hours at Zapolyarnyy), January loses darkness, and February brings shorter nights (14.0 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on January 15 and January cloud, month-page towns in Russia
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Zapolyarnyy	17.7 h	81%
Norilsk	17.7 h	55%
Talnakh	17.7 h	55%
Kayyerkan	17.7 h	56%
Dudinka	17.7 h	56%
Nikel	17.7 h	81%
Severomorsk	17.6 h	83%
Murmansk	17.5 h	78%
Monchegorsk	17.2 h	75%
Olenegorsk	17.2 h	78%
Apatity	17.1 h	75%
Narian-Mar	17.1 h	70%

Darkness and moon, every night

Zapolyarnyy, January 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
Fri Jan 1	18 h 50 min	13 h 9 min	16 h 58 min	4 h	30%
Sat Jan 2	18 h 47 min	13 h 7 min	18 h 47 min	4 h	21%
Sun Jan 3	18 h 43 min	13 h 5 min	18 h 43 min	4 h	14%
Mon Jan 4	18 h 39 min	13 h 2 min	18 h 39 min	4 h	8%
Tue Jan 5	18 h 35 min	13 h	18 h 35 min	4 h	4%
Wed Jan 6	18 h 31 min	12 h 57 min	18 h 31 min	4 h	1%
Thu Jan 7	18 h 26 min	12 h 54 min	18 h 26 min	4 h	0%
Fri Jan 8	18 h 21 min	12 h 51 min	18 h 21 min	4 h	1%
Sat Jan 9	18 h 16 min	12 h 48 min	18 h 16 min	4 h	4%
Sun Jan 10	18 h 11 min	12 h 45 min	16 h 7 min	4 h	8%
Mon Jan 11	18 h 6 min	12 h 42 min	14 h 3 min	4 h	14%
Tue Jan 12	18 h	12 h 38 min	12 h 10 min	4 h	21%
Wed Jan 13	17 h 55 min	12 h 35 min	10 h 17 min	2 h 16 min	30%
Thu Jan 14	17 h 49 min	12 h 31 min	8 h 20 min	21 min	40%
Fri Jan 15	17 h 43 min	12 h 27 min	5 h 55 min	0 min	50%
Sat Jan 16	17 h 37 min	12 h 23 min	1 h 3 min	0 min	61%
Sun Jan 17	17 h 31 min	12 h 18 min	0 min	0 min	72%
Mon Jan 18	17 h 25 min	12 h 14 min	0 min	0 min	81%
Tue Jan 19	17 h 18 min	12 h 10 min	0 min	0 min	90%
Wed Jan 20	17 h 12 min	12 h 5 min	0 min	0 min	96%
Thu Jan 21	17 h 5 min	12 h	0 min	0 min	99%
Fri Jan 22	16 h 58 min	11 h 55 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Sat Jan 23	16 h 52 min	11 h 50 min	28 min	0 min	97%
Sun Jan 24	16 h 45 min	11 h 45 min	2 h 53 min	0 min	92%
Mon Jan 25	16 h 38 min	11 h 40 min	5 h 1 min	0 min	85%
Tue Jan 26	16 h 31 min	11 h 35 min	7 h 1 min	1 h 54 min	76%
Wed Jan 27	16 h 24 min	11 h 29 min	9 h 25 min	4 h	66%
Thu Jan 28	16 h 17 min	11 h 23 min	12 h 37 min	4 h	56%
Fri Jan 29	16 h 10 min	11 h 18 min	16 h 10 min	4 h	46%
Sat Jan 30	16 h 2 min	11 h 12 min	16 h 2 min	4 h	36%
Sun Jan 31	15 h 55 min	11 h 6 min	15 h 55 min	4 h	27%

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

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Zapolyarnyy in January?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 31 of 31 nights at Zapolyarnyy have civil darkness, and 6% of past January days reached Kp 5.
How dark is Zapolyarnyy in January?: Zapolyarnyy averages 17.5 hours of civil night a night in January 2027, from 18 h 50 min on the 1st to 15 h 55 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Zapolyarnyy in January?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Zapolyarnyy's 1 degree cell 81% mean cloud in January, against 82% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in January 2027 for aurora in Zapolyarnyy?: By darkness and moon alone, Jan 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Zapolyarnyy. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is January or February better in Zapolyarnyy?: By civil night times the clear share, January scores 3.4 hours at Zapolyarnyy and February 2.8. January 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.