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ERA5 climatology · 2015–2024
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The best month.

Pick a month and every watch point is ranked by its real monthly cloud cover — 2015–2024 reanalysis means, lower is better — with the spots that have no true darkness that month set apart. Or pick a spot for its twelve-month chart.

Clear sky by month · Jasper100 − mean cloud cover · higher is better

Clearest dark months here (outlined): Apr, Aug, Sep. Faint: no night with an hour of astronomical darkness — white nights, twilight only (Jun). Part-faint months are dark on some nights only: dark until 14 May; dark from 28 Jul. ERA5 reanalysis, 2015–2024 monthly mean. Climatology, not a forecast — a regional ~25 km grid; local microclimates are not captured. Darkness & moon calendar → Best month, all spots →

● Tonight at Jasper — live →

Clearest dark skies in January

The aurora belt · Kp 3 or lessAll 70 spots

Top three: South Africa (Cape Point / Hermanus), South Australia coast (Kangaroo Is.), Victoria coast (Phillip Island). 72 watch points with at least one night of an hour's astronomical darkness this month, ranked by clear sky (100 − mean cloud cover); dark hours are the mean over the month's dark nights, and a part-dark month says when its darkness starts or ends. Cloud is only one of the three conditions — a clear Kp 9 spot is almost never lit; the threshold shown is each spot's own.

  1. 01South Africa (Cape Point / Hermanus) Africa · S66%6.5hKp 9+
  2. 02South Australia coast (Kangaroo Is.) Oceania · S50%6.3hKp 7+
  3. 03Victoria coast (Phillip Island) Oceania · S46%5.9hKp 6+
  4. 04Launceston Oceania · S44%5.3hKp 5+
  5. 05Coldfoot / Bettles North America · N42%12.3hKp 0+
  6. 06Fairbanks North America · N41%12.2hKp 1+
  7. 07Patagonia (El Calafate) South America · S· dark from 13 Jan39%2.6hKp 9+
  8. 08Hobart Oceania · S38%4.9hKp 5+
  9. 09Lake Tekapo (Aoraki Mackenzie) Oceania · S38%4.6hKp 5+
  10. 10Denali North America · N37%12.1hKp 2+
  11. 11Christchurch Oceania · S37%4.8hKp 6+
  12. 12Northern Maine (Acadia) North America · N36%11.3hKp 5+
  13. 13North Dakota North America · N35%11.4hKp 5+
  14. 14Bruny Island / Cockle Creek Oceania · S35%4.8hKp 4+
  15. 15Aberdeenshire Northern Europe · N34%11.8hKp 5+
  16. 16Falkland Islands South Atlantic · S· dark from 20 Jan34%2.3hKp 9+
  17. 17Queenstown / Southland Oceania · S33%4.3hKp 5+
  18. 18Yellowknife North America · N32%12hKp 1+
  19. 19Edmonton North America · N32%11.6hKp 4+
  20. 20Fort McMurray North America · N31%11.8hKp 3+
  21. 21Edinburgh Northern Europe · N30%11.7hKp 5+
  22. 22Dunedin / Otago Peninsula Oceania · S30%4hKp 5+
  23. 23Dawson City North America · N29%12.1hKp 1+
  24. 24Ilulissat Greenland · N27%12.4hKp 0+
  25. 25Invercargill Oceania · S27%3.9hKp 5+
  26. 26Punta Arenas South America · S· dark from 26 Jan27%1.8hKp 9+
  27. 27Whitehorse North America · N25%12hKp 3+
  28. 28Oslo Northern Europe · N25%11.9hKp 4+
  29. 29Jasper North America · N25%11.6hKp 4+
  30. 30Svalbard (Longyearbyen) Northern Europe · N24%13.4hKp 0+
  31. 31Senja Northern Europe · N24%12.4hKp 1+
  32. 32Iqaluit North America · N24%12.1hKp 1+
  33. 33Copenhagen Northern Europe · N24%11.7hKp 5+
  34. 34Northern Minnesota (Voyageurs) North America · N24%11.4hKp 5+
  35. 35Lofoten Islands Northern Europe · N23%12.4hKp 1+
  36. 36Svolvær Northern Europe · N23%12.4hKp 2+
  37. 37Reykjavík Northern Europe · N23%12.1hKp 2+
  38. 38Anchorage North America · N23%12hKp 3+
  39. 39Caithness (north Highlands) Northern Europe · N23%11.8hKp 5+
  40. 40Faroe Islands (Tórshavn) Northern Europe · N22%12hKp 3+
  41. 41Orkney Northern Europe · N22%11.9hKp 5+
  42. 42Stewart Island / Rakiura Oceania · S22%3.6hKp 4+
  43. 43Utqiaġvik (Barrow) North America · N21%12.6hKp 0+
  44. 44Stockholm Northern Europe · N21%11.9hKp 4+
  45. 45Tromsø Northern Europe · N20%12.5hKp 1+
  46. 46Lyngen Northern Europe · N20%12.5hKp 1+
  47. 47Kangerlussuaq Greenland · N20%12.3hKp 0+
  48. 48Kiruna Northern Europe · N20%12.3hKp 2+
  49. 49Nuuk Greenland · N20%12.1hKp 1+
  50. 50Shetland Northern Europe · N20%11.9hKp 4+
  51. 51Donegal Northern Europe · N20%11.7hKp 5+
  52. 52Montana (Glacier NP) North America · N20%11.4hKp 5+
  53. 53Kirkenes Northern Europe · N19%12.5hKp 1+
  54. 54Inari Northern Europe · N19%12.4hKp 1+
  55. 55Churchill North America · N19%11.9hKp 1+
  56. 56Washington (North Cascades) North America · N19%11.4hKp 6+
  57. 57Ivalo Northern Europe · N18%12.4hKp 2+
  58. 58Nellim Northern Europe · N18%12.4hKp 2+
  59. 59Murmansk / Kola Peninsula Northern Europe · N18%12.4hKp 2+
  60. 60Alta Northern Europe · N17%12.5hKp 1+
  61. 61Skibotn Northern Europe · N17%12.5hKp 1+
  62. 62Oulu Northern Europe · N17%12.2hKp 3+
  63. 63Helsinki Northern Europe · N16%11.9hKp 4+
  64. 64Saariselkä Northern Europe · N15%12.4hKp 2+
  65. 65Rovaniemi Northern Europe · N15%12.3hKp 2+
  66. 66Akureyri Northern Europe · N15%12.2hKp 1+
  67. 67Iceland (countrywide) Northern Europe · N15%12.1hKp 2+
  68. 68Estonia (Tartu / coast) Northern Europe · N13%11.8hKp 5+
  69. 69Abisko Northern Europe · N12%12.4hKp 1+
  70. 70Michigan Upper Peninsula (Keweenaw) North America · N11%11.4hKp 5+
  71. 71Kilpisjärvi Northern Europe · N9%12.4hKp 1+
  72. 72South Georgia South Atlantic · S· dark from 31 Jan8%1.4hKp 8+
clear = 100 − mean cloud cover · dark = mean hours of astronomical dark · glow = the spot's Kp for a glow

No true darkness in January

No night this month reaches an hour of astronomical darkness — clear or not, the aurora is not visible. Their cloud figures are shown for the record.

White nights — twilight only

Cloud: Open-Meteo Historical Weather API (ERA5 reanalysis), cloud_cover_mean (daily), averaged by calendar month, 2015–2024. Climatology, not a forecast — a regional ~25 km grid; local microclimates (a valley's "blue hole") are not captured. Darkness: astronomical (sun below −18°) computed for the 15th of the month at each spot. Night-by-night darkness & moon → Season sheet (PDF) → Plan the trip →