Montreal, QC · magnetic latitude 53.5°
Northern lights in Montreal: tonight’s chance
Montreal is an island city whose own light hides most auroras, but the Laurentian hills rise just beyond the north shore of the river.
Tonight at Montreal, QC
…
Reading the SWPC Kp forecast and the cloud forecast…
| Kp forecast during the dark hours | not yet forecast |
|---|---|
| Kp needed here | 6.3 (G2 moderate) |
| Cloud cover in the dark hours | loading |
| Dark sky (Sun 18° down) | 7:50 PM to 5:30 AM EDT |
| Moon | 13% lit |
| Right now, OVATION (30 to 90 min) | loading or unavailable |
| Magnetic latitude (AACGM) | 53.5° |
Hour by hour, EDT
7 PM
Kp –
– ☁
No
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 Montreal
- 6.3
- Storm level needed
- G2 (Moderate)
- Kp for aurora overhead
- 6.3
- Most clear dark hours
- September
Montreal needs Kp 6.3, a G2 (Moderate) storm, for the northern lights to appear. The island sits at 53.5 degrees magnetic latitude in the AACGM model, 0.2 degrees lower than Ottawa and 0.9 degrees lower than Quebec City, which needs about Kp 5.8. At about Kp 6.3 the oval edge reaches overhead in this site's model, so once a storm crosses Montreal's threshold it rarely stays a timid glow on the horizon. Some full darkness remains every month, 3.1 hours on June 15, rising to 11.7 hours on December 15, from 5:59 PM to 5:40 AM. The NASA POWER cloud amount runs from 55% in September to 76% in December. Combining darkness with clear sky, September, January and February come first. The tool reads tonight's SWPC Kp blocks and MET Norway cloud cover for Montreal.
An island lit from shore to shore
Montreal occupies an island in the St. Lawrence, densely built and lit from one end to the other, with Mount Royal rising in the middle. That geography leaves no dark corner inside the city. The aurora at Montreal's threshold of about Kp 6.3 needs to be looked for from off the island, and the direction that pays is north: across the Rivière des Prairies, past Laval and the northern suburbs, the land starts to climb into the Laurentians, a region of forested hills and lakes where the night grows darker the farther you go.
How dark, how clear: one town, one month
Hours of full darkness on the 15th
11.4 h
| Dark sky | 6:22 PM to 5:44 AM |
| Including nautical twilight | 12.6 h |
| Mean cloud amount (NASA POWER) | 70% |
| Clear dark hours on an average night | 3.5 h |
Computed for 2027; the hours move by a few minutes from one year to the next.
Between Ottawa and Quebec City
The three cities of the corridor sit close together in magnetic latitude, but not identically. Quebec City, downstream, needs about 0.4 Kp less than Montreal; Ottawa, upstream, about 0.1 Kp less. The differences are small but real on a borderline night, when the Kp blocks of the SWPC forecast hover right around the threshold. South of the border, Burlington in Vermont needs about Kp 6.5, which shows how quickly the odds fall away from the St. Lawrence toward New England.
Montreal shares one trait with Ottawa: the Kp that makes aurora visible and the Kp that brings the oval edge overhead coincide here, so a storm that reaches the city often arrives as a broad display rather than a thin arc on the horizon. It also means a forecast just short of the threshold usually gives nothing at all from the island.
Winter cloud and the September window
Storm systems tracking up the St. Lawrence valley keep the sky grey for long periods in early winter, and December carries the highest cloud amount of the year. After a cold front passes, a sharp, dry Arctic air mass often follows with one or two very clear nights, and those are the ones to watch when a storm is forecast. September, with 8.1 dark hours on the 15th and a milder climate, is the easiest month for a first try. Snow cover later in the season works against you in one way: a white landscape reflects so much skyglow that the drive away from the suburbs has to be longer in February than in September to reach the same darkness. For the capital upstream see the Ottawa page; for the state just south, the Vermont page.
Kp needed around Montreal
| Town | Magnetic latitude | Kp to see it | Kp overhead | Storm level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yellowknife | 68.5° | 0.0 | 0.0 | no storm |
| Whitehorse | 63.3° | 1.4 | 1.4 | no storm |
| Edmonton | 60.2° | 2.9 | 2.9 | no storm |
| Saskatoon | 59.8° | 3.1 | 3.1 | no storm |
| Winnipeg | 58.7° | 3.7 | 3.7 | no storm |
| Regina | 58.5° | 3.8 | 3.8 | no storm |
| Calgary | 57.7° | 4.2 | 4.2 | no storm |
| Quebec City | 54.4° | 5.8 | 5.8 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Vancouver | 54.3° | 5.8 | 5.8 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Ottawa | 53.7° | 6.1 | 6.1 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Montreal | 53.5° | 6.3 | 6.3 | G2 (Moderate) |
| Toronto | 52.5° | 6.5 | 6.8 | G2 (Moderate) |
| St. John's | 51.0° | 6.8 | 7.5 | G3 (Strong) |
| Halifax | 50.6° | 6.9 | 7.7 | G3 (Strong) |
Darkness and clouds by month in Montreal
| Month | Dark hours | Dark sky, 15th | Mean cloud | Clear dark hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11.4 h | 6:22 PM to 5:44 AM | 70% | 3.5 h |
| February | 10.2 h | 7:00 PM to 5:15 AM | 68% | 3.3 h |
| March | 8.8 h | 8:39 PM to 5:26 AM | 65% | 3.1 h |
| April | 6.8 h | 9:29 PM to 4:18 AM | 67% | 2.3 h |
| May | 4.7 h | 10:29 PM to 3:11 AM | 66% | 1.6 h |
| June | 3.1 h | 11:22 PM to 2:27 AM | 62% | 1.2 h |
| July | 3.9 h | 11:03 PM to 2:57 AM | 58% | 1.6 h |
| August | 6.0 h | 9:57 PM to 3:59 AM | 57% | 2.6 h |
| September | 8.1 h | 8:47 PM to 4:52 AM | 55% | 3.7 h |
| October | 9.8 h | 7:47 PM to 5:33 AM | 68% | 3.1 h |
| November | 11.1 h | 6:07 PM to 5:11 AM | 72% | 3.1 h |
| December | 11.7 h | 5:59 PM to 5:40 AM | 76% | 2.9 h |