Fairbanks, AK · magnetic latitude 65.2°
Northern lights in Fairbanks: tonight’s chance
Fairbanks lies beneath the auroral oval on most nights; darkness and clouds decide, not the size of the storm.
Tonight at Fairbanks, AK
…
Reading the SWPC Kp forecast and the cloud forecast…
| Kp forecast during the dark hours | not yet forecast |
|---|---|
| Kp needed here | 0.4 |
| Cloud cover in the dark hours | loading |
| Dark sky (Sun 18° down) | 9:18 PM to 5:56 AM AKDT |
| Moon | 14% lit |
| Right now, OVATION (30 to 90 min) | loading or unavailable |
| Magnetic latitude (AACGM) | 65.2° |
Hour by hour, AKDT
8 PM
Kp –
– ☁
No
9 PM
Kp –
– ☁
No
10 PM
Kp –
– ☁
No
11 PM
Kp –
– ☁
No
12 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
1 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
2 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
3 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
4 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
5 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
6 AM
Kp –
– ☁
No
Rules checked · Built by Radif Partners · How the answer works
- Kp to see it from Fairbanks
- 0.4
- Storm level needed
- no storm
- Kp for aurora overhead
- 0.4
- Most clear dark hours
- January
Fairbanks needs a planetary Kp of only about 0.4 to see the northern lights, which means no storm at all: at 65.2 degrees magnetic latitude, the city sits under the usual position of the auroral oval, and a clear dark night is very often an aurora night. The limits are elsewhere. From April to August the Sun never sinks 18 degrees below the horizon, so the sky never gets fully dark; in mid-December, by contrast, it is dark for 13.0 hours, from 6:17 PM to 7:15 AM. Clouds come next: NASA POWER averages put July at 77% cloud amount and March at 51%. Combining both, the months with the most clear dark hours are January, December and February, the heart of the Interior winter.
A city built where the oval passes
Most aurora pages explain how big a storm must be. For Fairbanks the honest answer is that it hardly matters: at Kp 0.4 the oval already reaches the city, and a G1 storm pushes it to the south, where it lights the sky above the Alaska Range. That is also why the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska and the rockets of the Poker Flat Research Range are here. A quiet night with a faint arc in the north and an active one with curtains overhead both count as a yes in the tool; the difference is what you see, not whether you see something.
The flip side of being under the oval is that a very strong storm can carry the brightest light away. During a G4 or G5 storm the oval expands toward the lower 48, and from Fairbanks much of the display sits low in the south. It remains spectacular, but the record shows of those nights are often seen from farther south.
Interior weather
Fairbanks sits in the Tanana Valley, sheltered by the Alaska Range from the moist Pacific air that clouds over Anchorage and Juneau. In midwinter, cold air pools in the valley under strong inversions: the skies are often clear, and the ice fog that forms in the coldest spells mostly hugs the ground in town, which is a good reason to drive up onto the surrounding hills. Late summer and early autumn are the cloudiest part of the dark season, with July at the top of the NASA POWER averages.
How dark, how clear: one town, one month
Hours of full darkness on the 15th
6.5 h
| Dark sky | 10:44 PM to 5:12 AM |
| Including nautical twilight | 8.7 h |
| Mean cloud amount (NASA POWER) | 51% |
| Clear dark hours on an average night | 3.2 h |
Computed for 2027; the hours move by a few minutes from one year to the next.
The equinox months
SWPC notes a tendency toward larger geomagnetic storms near the equinoxes. In Fairbanks, March combines that tendency with 6.5 hours of full darkness on the 15th and the clearest skies of the year, which is why many visitors plan for it. September offers 4.6 hours and milder nights, with more cloud. For the full picture month by month, see the table below; for the rest of the state, the Alaska page.
Kp needed around Fairbanks
| Town | Magnetic latitude | Kp to see it | Kp overhead | Storm level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utqiaġvik | 70.5° | 0.0 | 0.0 | no storm |
| Fairbanks | 65.2° | 0.4 | 0.4 | no storm |
| Kotzebue | 65.1° | 0.4 | 0.4 | no storm |
| Nome | 62.3° | 1.9 | 1.9 | no storm |
| Anchorage | 61.1° | 2.4 | 2.4 | no storm |
| Juneau | 61.0° | 2.5 | 2.5 | no storm |
| Bethel | 58.8° | 3.6 | 3.6 | no storm |
| Ketchikan | 58.6° | 3.7 | 3.7 | no storm |
Darkness and clouds by month in Fairbanks
| Month | Dark hours | Dark sky, 15th | Mean cloud | Clear dark hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12.3 h | 6:51 PM to 7:08 AM | 55% | 5.5 h |
| February | 9.8 h | 8:08 PM to 5:59 AM | 59% | 4.0 h |
| March | 6.5 h | 10:44 PM to 5:12 AM | 51% | 3.2 h |
| April | none | – | 59% | 0.0 h |
| May | none | – | 70% | 0.0 h |
| June | none | – | 73% | 0.0 h |
| July | none | – | 77% | 0.0 h |
| August | none | – | 75% | 0.0 h |
| September | 4.6 h | 11:29 PM to 4:03 AM | 72% | 1.3 h |
| October | 8.8 h | 9:12 PM to 6:01 AM | 77% | 2.0 h |
| November | 11.6 h | 6:46 PM to 6:25 AM | 67% | 3.9 h |
| December | 13.0 h | 6:17 PM to 7:15 AM | 59% | 5.3 h |