is the aurora visible?

The best time to see the northern lights in Fairbanks

Each bar is the share of nights that offered a real viewing window — geomagnetic activity above the local threshold, and at least one dark hour with a mostly clear sky. Computed from 1996–2025 Kp records (GFZ Potsdam) and 2015–2024 hourly cloud history for Fairbanks itself — not generic Arctic averages.

  1. Jan53% of nights
  2. Feb50% of nights
  3. Mar45% of nights
  4. Apr42% of nights
  5. Maymidnight sun
  6. Junmidnight sun
  7. Julmidnight sun
  8. Aug13% of nights
  9. Sep36% of nights
  10. Oct39% of nights
  11. Nov35% of nights
  12. Dec37% of nights

How to read this

The three months to aim for

  1. January — 53% of nights. With about 12 dark hours a night, geomagnetic activity reaches viewing levels on 79% of days, and 68% of nights offer a clear window.
  2. February — 50% of nights. With about 11 dark hours a night, geomagnetic activity reaches viewing levels on 83% of days, and 60% of nights offer a clear window.
  3. March — 45% of nights. With about 9 dark hours a night, geomagnetic activity reaches viewing levels on 85% of days, and 54% of nights offer a clear window.

Two patterns show up at every aurora destination: the months around the equinoxes (March and September) run geomagnetically hotter — the Russell-McPherron effect — and midwinter trades more dark hours for more cloud. Local climate decides the winner, which is why each destination's chart looks different.

Ready to check conditions? Back to tonight's Fairbanks forecast.