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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 · Queenstown / Southland100 − mean cloud cover · higher is better

Clearest dark months here (outlined): Jan, Feb, Mar. 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 Queenstown / Southland — live →

Clearest dark skies in November

The aurora belt · Kp 3 or lessAll 70 spots

Top three: South Africa (Cape Point / Hermanus), South Australia coast (Kangaroo Is.), Patagonia (El Calafate). 73 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 · S54%6.8hKp 9+
  2. 02South Australia coast (Kangaroo Is.) Oceania · S40%6.7hKp 7+
  3. 03Patagonia (El Calafate) South America · S· dark until 27 Nov40%3.2hKp 9+
  4. 04North Dakota North America · N38%11.1hKp 5+
  5. 05Falkland Islands South Atlantic · S· dark until 20 Nov38%2.9hKp 9+
  6. 06Launceston Oceania · S37%5.7hKp 5+
  7. 07Christchurch Oceania · S37%5.3hKp 6+
  8. 08Lake Tekapo (Aoraki Mackenzie) Oceania · S37%5.2hKp 5+
  9. 09Victoria coast (Phillip Island) Oceania · S36%6.2hKp 6+
  10. 10Northern Maine (Acadia) North America · N35%11.1hKp 5+
  11. 11Hobart Oceania · S33%5.4hKp 5+
  12. 12Edmonton North America · N32%11.3hKp 4+
  13. 13Dunedin / Otago Peninsula Oceania · S32%4.7hKp 5+
  14. 14Coldfoot / Bettles North America · N31%11.7hKp 0+
  15. 15Queenstown / Southland Oceania · S31%4.9hKp 5+
  16. 16Fairbanks North America · N30%11.6hKp 1+
  17. 17Denali North America · N30%11.6hKp 2+
  18. 18Fort McMurray North America · N30%11.4hKp 3+
  19. 19Aberdeenshire Northern Europe · N30%11.4hKp 5+
  20. 20Edinburgh Northern Europe · N30%11.4hKp 5+
  21. 21Bruny Island / Cockle Creek Oceania · S30%5.3hKp 4+
  22. 22Invercargill Oceania · S30%4.5hKp 5+
  23. 23Ilulissat Greenland · N29%11.8hKp 0+
  24. 24Nuuk Greenland · N27%11.6hKp 1+
  25. 25Anchorage North America · N27%11.5hKp 3+
  26. 26Punta Arenas South America · S· dark until 14 Nov27%2.6hKp 9+
  27. 27Lofoten Islands Northern Europe · N25%11.7hKp 1+
  28. 28Reykjavík Northern Europe · N25%11.6hKp 2+
  29. 29Ushuaia / Tierra del Fuego South America · S· dark until 8 Nov25%2.2hKp 8+
  30. 30Svolvær Northern Europe · N24%11.7hKp 2+
  31. 31Orkney Northern Europe · N24%11.4hKp 5+
  32. 32Caithness (north Highlands) Northern Europe · N24%11.4hKp 5+
  33. 33Northern Minnesota (Voyageurs) North America · N24%11.1hKp 5+
  34. 34Kangerlussuaq Greenland · N23%11.7hKp 0+
  35. 35Copenhagen Northern Europe · N23%11.4hKp 5+
  36. 36Jasper North America · N23%11.3hKp 4+
  37. 37Dawson City North America · N22%11.6hKp 1+
  38. 38Yellowknife North America · N22%11.5hKp 1+
  39. 39Stewart Island / Rakiura Oceania · S22%4.3hKp 4+
  40. 40Senja Northern Europe · N21%11.8hKp 1+
  41. 41Kiruna Northern Europe · N21%11.7hKp 2+
  42. 42Faroe Islands (Tórshavn) Northern Europe · N21%11.5hKp 3+
  43. 43Shetland Northern Europe · N21%11.5hKp 4+
  44. 44Oslo Northern Europe · N21%11.5hKp 4+
  45. 45Stockholm Northern Europe · N21%11.5hKp 4+
  46. 46Donegal Northern Europe · N21%11.3hKp 5+
  47. 47Michigan Upper Peninsula (Keweenaw) North America · N21%11.1hKp 5+
  48. 48Washington (North Cascades) North America · N20%11.2hKp 6+
  49. 49Whitehorse North America · N19%11.5hKp 3+
  50. 50Montana (Glacier NP) North America · N19%11.2hKp 5+
  51. 51Iqaluit North America · N18%11.6hKp 1+
  52. 52Svalbard (Longyearbyen) Northern Europe · N17%12.1hKp 0+
  53. 53Alta Northern Europe · N16%11.8hKp 1+
  54. 54Kirkenes Northern Europe · N16%11.8hKp 1+
  55. 55Helsinki Northern Europe · N16%11.5hKp 4+
  56. 56Oulu Northern Europe · N15%11.6hKp 3+
  57. 57Tromsø Northern Europe · N14%11.8hKp 1+
  58. 58Inari Northern Europe · N14%11.7hKp 1+
  59. 59Ivalo Northern Europe · N14%11.7hKp 2+
  60. 60Nellim Northern Europe · N14%11.7hKp 2+
  61. 61Akureyri Northern Europe · N14%11.6hKp 1+
  62. 62Iceland (countrywide) Northern Europe · N14%11.6hKp 2+
  63. 63Estonia (Tartu / coast) Northern Europe · N14%11.4hKp 5+
  64. 64Lyngen Northern Europe · N13%11.8hKp 1+
  65. 65Rovaniemi Northern Europe · N13%11.7hKp 2+
  66. 66Churchill North America · N13%11.4hKp 1+
  67. 67Murmansk / Kola Peninsula Northern Europe · N12%11.8hKp 2+
  68. 68Saariselkä Northern Europe · N12%11.7hKp 2+
  69. 69South Georgia South Atlantic · S· dark until 10 Nov12%2.3hKp 8+
  70. 70Skibotn Northern Europe · N10%11.8hKp 1+
  71. 71Kilpisjärvi Northern Europe · N9%11.8hKp 1+
  72. 72Abisko Northern Europe · N9%11.7hKp 1+
  73. 73Utqiaġvik (Barrow) North America · N8%11.8hKp 0+
clear = 100 − mean cloud cover · dark = mean hours of astronomical dark · glow = the spot's Kp for a glow

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 →