Yellowknife, NT · magnetic latitude 68.5°
Northern lights in Yellowknife: tonight’s chance
Yellowknife sits so far into the auroral zone that a big storm can push the brightest light south of town.
Tonight at Yellowknife, NT
…
Reading the SWPC Kp forecast and the cloud forecast…
| Kp forecast during the dark hours | not yet forecast |
|---|---|
| Kp needed here | 0.0 |
| Cloud cover in the dark hours | loading |
| Dark sky (Sun 18° down) | 8:58 PM to 5:49 AM MDT |
| Moon | 13% lit |
| Right now, OVATION (30 to 90 min) | loading or unavailable |
| Magnetic latitude (AACGM) | 68.5° |
Hour by hour, MDT
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 Yellowknife
- 0.0
- Storm level needed
- no storm
- Kp for aurora overhead
- 0.0
- Most clear dark hours
- December
Yellowknife needs no storm at all: the oval often sits overhead. At 68.5 degrees magnetic latitude in the AACGM model, the capital of the Northwest Territories lies poleward of the oval's quiet position, which this site's method places at 66 degrees, so on an ordinary night the band of light crosses its sky rather than hanging on the horizon. What takes nights away is the sun and the weather. From April to August the sun never drops 18 degrees below the horizon, so there is no full darkness at all; by mid-December the dark window runs 12.8 hours, from 7:10 PM to 7:55 AM. NASA POWER cloud amounts swing from 49% in March to 81% in October. Put together, the months with the most clear dark hours are December, January and February. The tool checks the SWPC forecast and MET Norway cloud cover for tonight, hour by hour.
North of the quiet oval
Most towns on this site look north for the aurora. Yellowknife often looks up, and on some nights south. Its magnetic latitude is 3.3 degrees higher than that of Fairbanks and 5.3 degrees higher than Whitehorse, which places the city on the poleward side of where the oval rests when the solar wind is calm. When activity picks up, the oval widens and slides toward the equator, so the most intense curtains may end up over the forest to the south while the zenith above town shows softer, pulsing patches. That is the opposite of what happens in Edmonton or Winnipeg, where a stronger storm always means a better view.
For the tool this means the answer is driven by the hours, not the Kp. A yes in Yellowknife can arrive on the quietest Kp of the week if the sky is clear between December dusk and dawn, and a maybe on a G3 night only reflects cloud or the moon.
Great Slave Lake and the boreal rock
The city stands on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, on the bare granite of the Canadian Shield, with lakes and black spruce on every side. Outside the small urban core, light pollution drops away within minutes. The flat terrain helps, since nothing like a mountain range cuts into the sky, and the frozen lakes in winter give open views in every direction. Highway 4, the Ingraham Trail, runs east from the city past a string of lakes whose shores make easy, unlit foregrounds, and a display bright enough to cast shadows on snow needs no camera to be convincing. Cold is the cost: midwinter nights here are routinely far below zero Fahrenheit, and batteries and fingers fail faster than the aurora fades.
How dark, how clear: one town, one month
Hours of full darkness on the 15th
10.0 h
| Dark sky | 8:52 PM to 6:49 AM |
| Including nautical twilight | 11.7 h |
| Mean cloud amount (NASA POWER) | 51% |
| Clear dark hours on an average night | 4.9 h |
Computed for 2027; the hours move by a few minutes from one year to the next.
Choosing between late summer and late winter
Two seasons compete. Late August and September bring the first dark hours after the midnight sun, mild nights and the reflections of aurora on open water, with 5.4 dark hours by mid-September. February and March are colder but drier, with 7.0 hours of full darkness on March 15 and the clearest skies of the year. The SWPC tendency toward stronger activity near the equinoxes favors both ends, and at this latitude even a modest equinox disturbance can fill most of the sky. For the territory next door, see the Whitehorse page; for the rest of the country, the Canada page.
Kp needed around Yellowknife
| 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 Yellowknife
| Month | Dark hours | Dark sky, 15th | Mean cloud | Clear dark hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12.1 h | 7:42 PM to 7:51 AM | 57% | 5.3 h |
| February | 10.0 h | 8:52 PM to 6:49 AM | 51% | 4.9 h |
| March | 7.0 h | 10:15 PM to 5:15 AM | 49% | 3.6 h |
| April | none | – | 58% | 0.0 h |
| May | none | – | 66% | 0.0 h |
| June | none | – | 64% | 0.0 h |
| July | none | – | 68% | 0.0 h |
| August | none | – | 66% | 0.0 h |
| September | 5.4 h | 10:50 PM to 4:15 AM | 66% | 1.8 h |
| October | 9.0 h | 8:52 PM to 5:54 AM | 81% | 1.8 h |
| November | 11.6 h | 7:35 PM to 7:09 AM | 75% | 2.9 h |
| December | 12.8 h | 7:10 PM to 7:55 AM | 58% | 5.4 h |