Can You See the Northern Lights on Your Cruise?
Aurora needs a dark sky, enough geomagnetic activity and clear weather. Pick a port and month to see the first two.
Dark enough: about 11 dark hours around midnight on October 15.
Dark enough from August to April. Too light to see aurora from May to July.
- Overhead display
- Kp 2 or higher
- Reached on about 21 nights in a typical October. Clear, dark skies needed.
- Faint glow, northern horizon
- Kp 1 or higher
- Reached on about 28 nights in a typical October. Clear, dark skies needed.
Every figure here counts geomagnetic activity and darkness only. It does not count clouds. Clear, dark skies are needed to see aurora.
Dark Hours in Valdez by Month
3 or more dark hoursUnder 3○ Never dark
Show as a table
| Month | Dark hours | Overhead, Kp 2 | Horizon, Kp 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13.8 | about 22 nights | about 29 nights |
| February | 11.6 | about 21 nights | about 27 nights |
| March | 9.0 | about 22 nights | about 29 nights |
| April | 5.3 | about 17 nights | about 26 nights |
| May | none | too light | too light |
| June | none | too light | too light |
| July | none | too light | too light |
| August | 3.8 | about 15 nights | about 24 nights |
| September | 7.9 | about 20 nights | about 27 nights |
| October | 10.9 | about 21 nights | about 28 nights |
| November | 13.3 | about 21 nights | about 27 nights |
| December | 14.4 | about 21 nights | about 27 nights |
Nights in a typical month. Clear, dark skies needed.
Live Aurora Maps
Aurora Oval Right Now
Tonight's Viewline
Dark hours: time with the sun more than 12 degrees below the horizon on the night of the 15th. Kp needed: from the port's geomagnetic latitude and the auroral oval, following NOAA's viewing guidance. Nights: definitive Kp, 1991 to 2025, counting only nights with darkness.
Kp index data: Geomagnetic Observatory Niemegk, GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, CC BY 4.0. Matzka, J., Stolle, C., Yamazaki, Y., Bronkalla, O. and Morschhauser, A., 2021. The geomagnetic Kp index and derived indices of geomagnetic activity. Space Weather, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002641 CC BY 4.0
The month figures are history, not a forecast.