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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 · Bruny Island / Cockle Creek100 − mean cloud cover · higher is better

Clearest dark months here (outlined): Jan, Feb, Sep. 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 Bruny Island / Cockle Creek — live →

Clearest dark skies in February

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). 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 · S70%7.7hKp 9+
  2. 02South Australia coast (Kangaroo Is.) Oceania · S53%7.5hKp 7+
  3. 03Victoria coast (Phillip Island) Oceania · S46%7.3hKp 6+
  4. 04Launceston Oceania · S45%6.9hKp 5+
  5. 05Christchurch Oceania · S44%6.6hKp 6+
  6. 06Lake Tekapo (Aoraki Mackenzie) Oceania · S43%6.5hKp 5+
  7. 07Yellowknife North America · N41%10hKp 1+
  8. 08North Dakota North America · N40%10.2hKp 5+
  9. 09Hobart Oceania · S40%6.7hKp 5+
  10. 10Fairbanks North America · N39%9.9hKp 1+
  11. 11Coldfoot / Bettles North America · N39%9.7hKp 0+
  12. 12Patagonia (El Calafate) South America · S39%5.3hKp 9+
  13. 13Northern Maine (Acadia) North America · N38%10.2hKp 5+
  14. 14Dawson City North America · N38%9.9hKp 1+
  15. 15Queenstown / Southland Oceania · S38%6.4hKp 5+
  16. 16Fort McMurray North America · N36%10.1hKp 3+
  17. 17Dunedin / Otago Peninsula Oceania · S36%6.2hKp 5+
  18. 18Whitehorse North America · N35%10hKp 3+
  19. 19Bruny Island / Cockle Creek Oceania · S34%6.6hKp 4+
  20. 20Aberdeenshire Northern Europe · N33%10.1hKp 5+
  21. 21Edmonton North America · N32%10.2hKp 4+
  22. 22Northern Minnesota (Voyageurs) North America · N32%10.2hKp 5+
  23. 23Denali North America · N32%10hKp 2+
  24. 24Invercargill Oceania · S32%6.1hKp 5+
  25. 25Falkland Islands South Atlantic · S32%4.9hKp 9+
  26. 26Oslo Northern Europe · N30%10.1hKp 4+
  27. 27Edinburgh Northern Europe · N29%10.2hKp 5+
  28. 28Copenhagen Northern Europe · N29%10.2hKp 5+
  29. 29Stockholm Northern Europe · N28%10.1hKp 4+
  30. 30Caithness (north Highlands) Northern Europe · N28%10.1hKp 5+
  31. 31Ilulissat Greenland · N28%9.6hKp 0+
  32. 32Iqaluit North America · N27%9.9hKp 1+
  33. 33Punta Arenas South America · S27%4.5hKp 9+
  34. 34Orkney Northern Europe · N26%10.1hKp 5+
  35. 35Kangerlussuaq Greenland · N26%9.7hKp 0+
  36. 36Jasper North America · N25%10.2hKp 4+
  37. 37Churchill North America · N25%10.1hKp 1+
  38. 38Anchorage North America · N25%10hKp 3+
  39. 39Faroe Islands (Tórshavn) Northern Europe · N24%10hKp 3+
  40. 40Shetland Northern Europe · N24%10hKp 4+
  41. 41Stewart Island / Rakiura Oceania · S24%6hKp 4+
  42. 42Lofoten Islands Northern Europe · N23%9.7hKp 1+
  43. 43Ushuaia / Tierra del Fuego South America · S23%3.8hKp 8+
  44. 44Helsinki Northern Europe · N22%10.1hKp 4+
  45. 45Svolvær Northern Europe · N22%9.7hKp 2+
  46. 46Kiruna Northern Europe · N22%9.7hKp 2+
  47. 47Montana (Glacier NP) North America · N21%10.2hKp 5+
  48. 48Washington (North Cascades) North America · N21%10.2hKp 6+
  49. 49Oulu Northern Europe · N21%9.9hKp 3+
  50. 50Senja Northern Europe · N21%9.6hKp 1+
  51. 51Kirkenes Northern Europe · N21%9.5hKp 1+
  52. 52Svalbard (Longyearbyen) Northern Europe · N21%7.9hKp 0+
  53. 53Donegal Northern Europe · N20%10.2hKp 5+
  54. 54Nuuk Greenland · N20%9.9hKp 1+
  55. 55Reykjavík Northern Europe · N20%9.9hKp 2+
  56. 56Inari Northern Europe · N20%9.6hKp 1+
  57. 57Estonia (Tartu / coast) Northern Europe · N19%10.1hKp 5+
  58. 58Rovaniemi Northern Europe · N19%9.8hKp 2+
  59. 59Ivalo Northern Europe · N19%9.6hKp 2+
  60. 60Nellim Northern Europe · N19%9.6hKp 2+
  61. 61Michigan Upper Peninsula (Keweenaw) North America · N18%10.2hKp 5+
  62. 62Alta Northern Europe · N18%9.5hKp 1+
  63. 63Utqiaġvik (Barrow) North America · N18%9.4hKp 0+
  64. 64Saariselkä Northern Europe · N17%9.6hKp 2+
  65. 65Murmansk / Kola Peninsula Northern Europe · N17%9.6hKp 2+
  66. 66Lyngen Northern Europe · N17%9.5hKp 1+
  67. 67Tromsø Northern Europe · N16%9.5hKp 1+
  68. 68Akureyri Northern Europe · N15%9.8hKp 1+
  69. 69Skibotn Northern Europe · N14%9.6hKp 1+
  70. 70Abisko Northern Europe · N14%9.6hKp 1+
  71. 71Iceland (countrywide) Northern Europe · N12%9.9hKp 2+
  72. 72Kilpisjärvi Northern Europe · N10%9.6hKp 1+
  73. 73South Georgia South Atlantic · S10%4.1hKp 8+
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 →